Softball splits home opener with Eastern Nazarene
New England College softball split a double-header with the visiting Eastern Nazarene Crusaders Tuesday afternoon, falling to the Crusaders in game one 1-6 but battling back for the 10-9 game two win. With the split the Pilgrims are now 7-9 overall and 1-5 in conference play, while the Crusaders move to 6-10 overall and 2-4 in the conference.
In game one the two teams would battle through the first two innings scoreless before Crusader Amber Burns (Fall River, Mass.) would double in Jacqueline Tierney (Taunton, Mass.) in the top of the third giving Eastern Nazarene the 1-0 lead. NEC’s Stephanie Freitag (Lakeville, Mass.) would respond with a solo homerun in the bottom of the fourth knotting the game at 1-1. The Eastern Nazarene offense would explode for four runs in the top half of the fifth and add an additional run in the seventh as the Crusader pitching would hold NEC to just one base runner in the final three innings cruising to the 6-1 victory.
Leading the way for Eastern Nazarene was Tierney who pounded out three hits, including a homerun and had three runs scored and two runs batted in. Amber Burns finished with two hits and two runs batted in for the Crusaders. Picking up the win on the mound for Eastern Nazarene was Rachel Sorensen (Quincy, Mass.) who allowed just one earned run on seven hits.
In game two the two teams combined for 25 hits and 19 runs in an offense battle. The Crusaders would lead through much of the game up 6-3 heading into the fifth inning but the Pilgrims would plate four runs in the fourth and three in the fifth to go up 10-8 heading into the seventh. Eastern Nazarene would get a run in the seventh and threaten with the game-tying run in scoring position but Pilgrims pitcher Kristen Purdy (Candia, N.H.) would get the final out, holding on for the 10-9 win.
Leading the way for NEC was Rachel White (Arlington, Mass.) who finished with three hits and three runs scored. Alexandria Sacco (Tewksbury, Mass.) had two hits and three runs scored, while Sierra Thibeault (Brunswick, Maine) had two hits and two runs batted in for the Pilgrims.
Leading the way for Eastern Nazarene was Jacqueline Tierney who finished with three hits, three runs batted in and two runs scored. Bethany Greenfield (Parsippany, NJ ) and Laura Giberson (Hingham, Mass.) each had two hits and two runs scored for the Crusaders.
