WESTON, Mass. – Freshman Emily Pickett (Wrentham, Mass.) pitched a combined 12 innings and struck out 14 batters on the day as Regis College swept a New England Collegiate Conference softball doubleheader from Bay Path College, 5-1 and 9-1 in five innings, on a rainy Wednesday night in Weston, Mass. The Pride improves to 3-12 overall and evens its record to 3-3 in the NECC, while Bay Path drops to 5-22 overall and 0-6 in league games.
In game one, Picket tossed seven innings and allowed only one run on three hits and posted a career-high 11 strikeouts. The freshman then followed that up by going five innings and giving up only one run on five hits, while striking out three in the second game.
Regis staked Pickett to an early 1-0 lead as Kara Donovan (Woburn, Mass.) reached on an error and then stole second, allowing Sarah Porteus (South Wellfleet, Mass.) to drive in Donovan with an RBI single to short. Both Pickett and Bay Path's Marina Rhodes (Providence, R.I.) matched zeroes over the next four innings before the Pride added one more in the fifth when Regis loaded the bases and Katie Blackburn (Milford, Mass.) picked up an RBI groundout to give Regis the 2-0 lead.
In the sixth, Regis tacked on three more as Christine O'Toole (Wareham, Mass.) flared a ball to center that dropped in for a base hit, allowing Jill Bruning (Medford, Mass.) and Alex Manavas (Montville, Conn.) to come around and score as the centerfielder's throw skirted away. With the Wildcats trailing 5-0, Kat Chabot (Brookfield, Mass.) led off the top of the seventh with a single and came around to score on an RBI double by Mercedes Griffith (Malden, Mass.) to make it a 5-1 game. Pickett rebounded, forcing Emily Serrano (North Adams, Mass.) to foul out to first and Nicole Dexter (Delanson, N.Y.) to fly out to right to end the game.
Sarah Porteus went 2-for-3 at the plate with an RBI to lead the Pride attack. Donovan, Bruning, and O'Toole recorded the only other hits for Regis.
Bay Path's Marina Rhodes suffered the setback while allowing five runs (three earned) in six innings with a pair of strikeouts and six walks. The Wildcats were led by hits from Chabot, Griffith, and Theresa West (Hadley, Mass.).
In the second game of the day, Keelin Dougherty (Northfield, N.H.) led off the ballgame with a single up the middle and later stole second. With two down in the inning, Nicole Ogden (Springfield, Mass.) drove in her battery-mate with an RBI single up the middle to take an early 1-0 lead. The Pride responded with five runs in their half of the first as they took advantage of several Bay Path mistakes to make it a 5-1 game. Samantha Bliss (Framingham, Mass.) and Kara Donovan came around to score on passed balls and Katie Blackburn drove in a run with an RBI double to left-center for the first three runs. The Pride scored their last two runs of the inning as Shannon Bradish (Lawrence, Mass.) reached on a dropped fly ball to leftfield that plated a pair of runs.
Regis made it 6-1 as Alex Manavas and Sam Bliss executed a double-steal that led to Bliss scoring her second run of the game. Emily Pickett kept the Wildcats off the board for the final four innings, giving up only three singles. The Pride took advantage in their half of the fifth, as Jasmyne Welch (Wells, Maine) launched her team-leading fourth homerun over the field in left center that also plated Manavas to make it 8-1. Jill Bruning followed with a single to right field, and later came around to score the winning-run on an RBI double by Shannon Bradish.
Samantha Bliss went 2-for-2 with a pair of runs scored to lead the Pride. Manavas, Blackburn, Welch, Bruning, and Bradish also added hits, with Welch driving in two runs and Bradish adding three RBI's of her own.
The Wildcats' Keelin Dougherty went 2-for-3 at the plate with a run scored, while tossing 4.2 innings and giving up nine runs (five earned) on seven hits with three strikeouts. Nicole Ogden went 2-for-2 with an RBI and Nicole Dexter had the final hit for Bay Path.
The Crimson and Gold return to action on Saturday afternoon when they host Lesley University in an NECC doubleheader scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. start. Bay Path looks to snap a seven-game skid when they host Southern Vermont College on Saturday as well at 1:00 p.m.