PAXTON, Mass. – Hannah DelCervo was near perfect in the circle with just one hit and one walk allowed and 11 punchouts to anchor the Suffolk softball team to a 7-0 victory over Anna Maria in the nightcap of a GNAC doubleheader Thursday night at AMCAT Field.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 7 | Anna Maria 0
RECORDS: Suffolk (19-14, 9-3 GNAC) | Anna Maria (3-20, 0-12 GNAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk broke open the scoreless action in the hit as McKenzie McGrath's double to left field scored Jaclyn Flint, who singled, to put the first mark on the scoreboard.
An inning later, Julia Carfagno led off with single to left center advanced to third on Karina Bua's ground out to second and scored behind a throwing error by the AMCATs first baseman Sabrina Carreira to push the Rams' edge two a pair.
McGrath barreled a three-run bomb in the fifth to length the Rams cushion to five. The senior third baseman brought in Flint and Kelly Keane, who reached on an error and walked, respectively, to give the Rams a 5-0 cushion.
The Rams flittered with the mercy rule in the sixth. Bianca Luciano took Ashley Zulla's place on the bags after the junior designated player opened the inning with a single to short. Flint's single to right pushed Luciano to third to set up Kennedy Reyes sac fly. McGrath followed the freshman's RBI with one of her own, the senior's fifth of the day, as Flint came in on her co-captain's base hit to left to stretch Suffolk's advantage to seven.
Anna Maria kept the blue-and-gold one-run shy of the mercy rule to send DelCervo back to the rubber with the RHP three outs away from a no-hitter. Caitlin Murphy made the play in center for the first out, but Ashley Garcia connected for a base hit up the middle to erase the no-no. DelCervo did not lose momentum after the AMCATs hit, however, as she locked up the remaining two outs to secure the victory for Suffolk.
PITCHERS PICTURE
- DelCervo put together a one-hit, one-walk, 11-strikeout, complete-game effort to move to 5-6 on the year.
- Garcia suffered the setback after allowing seven runs, five earned, on nine hits and six walks with one K.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- McGrath had a day at the dish with a 3-for-4 effort that included one bomb and one double for five RBI and one run scored.
- Flint scored three runs and went 2-for-3 at bat.
- Carfagno had a 2-for-3 plate performance with one run scored.
NOTEWORTHY
- The Rams improved to 16-0 versus the AMCATs all time.
- Suffolk shutout Anna Maria for the second time in as many meetings.
- The Rams swept the AMCATs for the eighth straight season.
- Suffolk registered their fourth shutout of the year and second straight.
- DelCervo sat down a career-high 11 batters, the most strikeouts for a Suffolk twirler since Payton Sylvester fanned 12 in the in the GNAC semis 4-3 win over Emmanuel May 6, 2018.
- McGrath knocked her second-ever dinger.
- Carfagno collected her first collegiate hit and run.
- McGrath registered a career-high five RBI.
- Reyes had her first collegiate at bat and recorded her first RBI on a sac fly.
POST-GAME PIC
COMING UP
Suffolk takes tomorrow off before returning to action this weekend when it makes the trip to Saint Joseph's (Maine) Saturday, April 27 for a GNAC twinbill. First pitch of game one is set for 3 p.m.
