EAST BOSTON – Western New England built an early advantage that Suffolk softball could not overcome as the Rams fell to Western New England, 5-2, Saturday afternoon in the opener of the two-game non-conference series.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 2 | Western New England 5
RECORDS: Suffolk (6-9) | Western New England (8-5)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Aimee Kistne's shot over the left field fence was the only hit Western New England needed in the first three batters to build a three-run lead in the opening frame. The third baseman barreled a dinger to the scoreboard and brought in Emily Cooneyand Allie Buzzeo, who reached on a walk and Rams' error, respectively. Two outs and five batters later Paige Uliase extended the visitors advantage to four behind a base hit up the middle.
The Rams made up one run in the bottom of the inning as lead-off hitter Caitlin Murphy, worked her way around the bags on a single, stolen base, a productive ground out and capitalized on a wild pitch to trim the margin to three, 4-1, after one full frame.
Things remained a three-run game for the Golden Bears until Dina DiBlasi tallied one RBI single in the top of the fourth pushed the distance back to four in the visitors favor, 5-1.
Suffolk pulled within three once again in the home half of the fifth. Samantha Jacques singled and Bianca Luciano looked to move the runner over on a sac bunt, but a Western New England throwing error on the sac hit did more than that and Jacques found herself on third. The Rams' second baseman scored Suffolk's second run on the day on a fielder's choice during Murphy's at bat to cut the Golden Bear's lead to 5-2.
Constance Phelan took over for Hannah DelCervo in the circle and held WNE off the board in the sixth and seventh, respectively, but the Rams' bats could not figure out Uliase, who retired six of the final seven Suffolk hitters to secure the win.
PITCHERS PICTURE
- DelCervo slipped to 2-2 after giving up three earned runs on eight hits and two walks with a pair of strikeouts to her credit in five frames.
- Phelan tossed 2.0 innings of scoreless relief, allowing two hits and sitting down one.
- Uliase went the distance for the Golden Bears. In the complete-game effort, WNE's starter put together a two-run, one-earned, six-hit effort.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Murphy was responsible for two of the Rams' six hits. The rookie centerfielder went 2-for-3 at the plate and responsible for the blue-and-gold's lone RBI of the afternoon. Murphy added one run and one stolen base.
- Jacques registered one hit and one run.
- Brooke Cloak,Kelly Keane, and Loughlin all produced one hit.
NOTEWORTHY
- Suffolk and Western New England renewed a rivalry, meeting for the first time since 2007 and 25th time overall.
- The blue-and-gold took on the Golden Bears for the first time in the Jaclyn Davis era.
POST-GAME PIC
COMING UP
Suffolk will conclude its conference twinbill with the Falcons of Albertus Magnus this afternoon.
