EAST BOSTON – After stringing together two wins earlier in the day, the Suffolk softball team fell 9-1 to Emmanuel in Game 11, the elimination, semifinal round of the 2016 GNAC Tournament Saturday evening at East Boston Memorial Park.
The Saints nearly held Suffolk scoreless with the Rams' lone run coming in the top of the sixth inning before Emmanuel ended the contest with an eight-run lead after a producing four runs in the bottom half of the sixth.
Emmanuel's Catherine Davis scored the game's first run in the bottom of the first before Suffolk pitcher Ali Yamakaitis walked in Abbey Alexiades and the Saints took an early 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the second, Ashley Skey singled to right center, knocking home Davis yet again.
Casey Sheehan and Alexiades combined for back-to-back homers in the bottom of the fourth inning to give Emmanuel a 5-0 cushion.
The Rams' solo score then came in the top of the sixth inning with freshman Jill Pulek sending in Devlin Frost on an RBI single. In the bottom half of the inning, Skey tallied another RBI single to send in Catherine Edmonds, giving the Saints a 6-1 lead.
Olivia Burgos went on to notch an RBI and score Briana Ong before a Megan Kieselback single sent in Emmanuel's eighth and ninth runs of the night in Susie Kieselback and Elysa Moretti to seal the 9-1 win at the end of six innings with an eight-run lead.
Jill Kilcoyne earned the win for the Saints, her 18th of the season, while Yamakaitis recorded just her fifth loss of the year for the Rams. Emmanuel will go on to play Johnson & Wales in the 2016 GNAC Tournament Championship Sunday morning at 10 a.m.