WESTON, Mass. – Regis College dropped a pair of games to visiting Mitchell College, 6-1 and 10-1, on Saturday afternoon in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) softball action in Weston, Mass. The Pride fall to 3-10 overall this year and 3-3 in league games, while the Mariners improve to 7-12 and 3-1 in league games.
In the opening game, Mitchell scored three times in the top of the first to take an early 3-0 lead as Lindsey Romagnino (Totowa, N.J.) had an RBI single and then scored on a Brittany Fiederlein (Hampton, Conn.) two-run double that also plated Jayshalee Torres (New Britain, Conn.). The Mariners tacked on three more in the top of the fourth as Jenny Groman (New Britain, Conn.) stroked a two-run double to right center and came around to score on Romagnino's second RBI hit of the day to give Mitchell a 6-0 lead through four innings.
The Pride got on the board in the bottom of the fifth as Katie Cuozzo (Lynn, Mass.) doubled to left centerfield. Freshman Allison Caloggero (Medford, Mass.) stepped to the plate and cranked a triple over the right fielder's head that allowed Cuozzo to score and make it a 6-1 game. The Pride bats were quieted afterwards as Mitchell's Fiederlein retired the final nine batters she faced to help lead the Mariners to the 6-1 win.
Alyssa McKinnon (Raynham, Mass.) had the only other hit of the day for the Pride as the team only mustered three hits off Fiederlein. Katie Cuozzo suffered the setback for the Pride, tossing seven innings and giving up six runs (five earned) on 11 hits with a pair of strikeouts.
Jenny Groman, Lindsay Romagnino, and Shannon O'Neil (Chicopee, Mass.) each had two-hit days for Mitchell and they combined to drive in four runs and score a pair as well. Fiederlein picked up her fifth win of the season in a complete game effort, scattering three hits and allowing only one earned run with three strikeouts.
Game two of the day started as a pitcher's duel as the two teams combined for only two runs through the first four innings of play. After Rivkah Berkman (New London, Conn.) led off the game with a walk and then stole second, the sophomore came around to score on a Groman RBI single to centerfield for the game's first run. Fiederlein struck again for Mitchell in the fourth inning as a perfectly placed groundball to shortstop allowed Torres to score from third and gave the visitor's a 2-0 lead.
The Mariners broke the game open in the fifth inning as four of the five players to lead off the inning hit doubles, allowing the Mariners to tack on three more runs and lead 5-0 through five innings. The Pride got one back in their half of the fifth as Kelsey Heath (Lowell, Mass.) dropped a bunt down and beat the throw up the line for the single, allowing Rachel Tortora (Malden, Mass.) to come in the back door and make it a 5-1 game.
The Mariners bats stayed hot in the sixth as Jenny Groman picked up another RBI and then got in a rundown to allow another MC run to cross the plate to make it 7-1. Groman would score on an RBI single by Romagnino to push the lead to 8-1, and in the seventh inning, Samantha Ryan (Quaker Hill, Conn.) laced a two-run homer to center to give the game the final score of 10-1. Again the Pride bats went silent over the final two-plus innings as all seven batters to come to the plate were retired.
Rachel DesRochers (Westford, Mass.), Rachel Tortora, Kelsey Heath, and Jenna Casello (Westborough, Mass.) each had a hit for the Pride in game two. Sam Bliss (Framingham, Mass.) allowed five runs on eight hits in five innings of work in defeat, while Marissa Magarian (Goffstown, N.H.) gave up five runs of her own on nine hits in two innings of relief work.
Mitchell recorded 17 hits in the second game led by a 3-for-4 game with three RBI and two runs scored from Jenny Groman. Emily Morenzoni (Waterford, Conn.) also had three hits, while Berkman, O'Neil, and Samantha Ryan each posted multi-hit games. Tricia Tomaselli (Guilford, Conn.) scattered four hits and allowed only one unearned run in her second victory of 2014.
Both Regis and Mitchell are back in action tomorrow afternoon as the Pride will take on Lesley University at Regis in a 12:00 p.m. doubleheader. The Mariners host Bay Path College in a 1:00 p.m. NECC doubleheader.