EAST BOSTON, Mass. – In its first home action of the 2016 season, and the first official Suffolk softball game at Easton Boston Memorial Park, the Rams posted a pair of wins over Emerson, downing the Lions 2-1 in Game 1 and 11-4 in Game 2 Wednesday afternoon.
It was a battle of the pitchers through the first few innings, with Suffolk's (9-3) Ali Yamakaitis and Emerson's (4-8) Kodie Cash trading scoreless frames. The Lions broke the scoreless tie in the third. Goldstein started the inning for Emerson with a sharp single to right field, but was tagged out on Fee's fielder's choice. Fortuna advanced Fee with a sacfirice bunt and DeFusco's double to center plate Fee for the first run of the day.
Suffolk put together an answer in the fourth. After Jill Pulek popped up to the first baseman, Devlin Frost shot a single to right field. Madison Eucalitto sacrificed to right to push Frost into scoring position at second. Lindsay Pagano barreled a single down the left line and Frost rounded the bases to deadlock the game at 1-all.
The Rams go-ahead run game in the next inning. McKenzie McGrath started things off with a fly out to left field and Meredith Ball and Sydney Littlefield followed with back-to-back doubles. Ball was tagged out at third on a fielder's choice that put Delaney Sylvester on first and a Pulek RBI single brought in Littlefield to put Suffolk in front, 2-1.
The Rams took care of business down the stretch and only allowed one hit over the final two innings, the Lions' first at bat in the sixth, to secure the 2-1 victory.
Yamakaitis (3-1) picked up her third win of the season as the sophomore twirled a complete five-hit, one-run game with six strikeouts.
Game 2 was a different story, however, despite a similar scoreless two. The Rams quickly put on two runs in the third and tacked on three in the fourth, fifth and sixth to build a lead that was hard for the Lions to overcome.
The scoring started with a two-out, two-RBI home run over the center field fence for Pulek. The freshman made history as the first player in blue-and-gold to homer at East Boston Memorial Park when she brought in Sylvester for the 2-0 cushion.
Emerson answered with a solo homer by Cash in the ensuing top of the fourth, but Suffolk's offensive outpour continued with three runs in the bottom of the inning. With the bases loaded, Elissa Mogauro pinch hit for McGrath and shot a two RBI single to center field. In the next at bat, Ball's sacrifice scored Marquis and gave the Rams' a 5-1 advantage.
Marquis put on a show in the fifth. With runners on the corners, the freshman hit a long bomb over the fences for a three RBI homer, Suffolk's second of the day and the first of her collegiate career.
The Lions would drive in three runs in the sixth, but Suffolk matched that output in the bottom of the inning and secured the outs in the seventh for its four straight victory this season.
Taylor Holmes (4-1) threw her fourth victory of the season with the sophomore tossing four innings, allowing three hits and one run, giving up two walks and fanning two. Kim Crucioli secured the save with three innings of work. The Lions' got four hits, three runs and one walk off the junior.
Moving forward, Suffolk returns to Eastie Saturday afternoon for a doubleheader against Johnson State. Game one is set for a 12 p.m. first pitch.