BOSTON – Four unanswered runs over the last two innings by the Fighting Scots handed Suffolk softball a 9-4 Commonwealth Coast Conference loss in game one of a doubleheader Sunday at Rotch Field.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 4 | Gordon 9
RECORDS: Suffolk (12-15, 3-4 CCC) | Gordon (8-19, 3-6 CCC)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. With the bases chucked behind a lead-off double, walk and a base hit, a throwing error by the Fighting Scots short stop Ami Rivera allowed Catherine Carignan to come in. A fielder's choice when Lily Gustafson put the ball in play let Maddie Southers score for the second run of the inning before Hannah McHale's base hit to left plated Julia Mills, who knocked a single of her own, for the three-run margin.  

Gordon got the runs back in the top of the second. A throwing error by Suffolk's third baseman let two runs come in before Isabella Rivera homered to left center to even things up at 3-all. 

The Fighting Scots grabbed the go-ahead in the top of the fourth behind Rivera's sac fly. 

The teams exchanged runs in the fifth. A wild pitch allowed Gordon to score a run, while Carignan responded with a lead-off solo shot to make it a 5-4 game. 

A three-run sixth by the Fighting Scots put Suffolk in an 8-4 hole.  

The Rams went down in order in the home half of the inning to keep the four-run gap as the game went to the top of the seventh. 

Gordon added one more run to its advantage and Suffolk faced a five-run, 9-5, deficit in the bottom of the inning. Ava Brandow barreled a base hit to right to get the frame underway, but Sierra Ricci managed to retire the side from there to hand the Rams the setback.  

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Cynthia Rucinski suffered the setback after giving up five runs, four earned, on six hits and one walk with five strikeouts in 4.0 innings.
• Ashlyn Conley put togther a four-run, four-hit, two-walk effort in 3.0 innings of relief. 
• Ricci picked up the decision with a one-run, three-hit, one-walk, three-punchout performance in 6.1 innings of relief. 
• Emily Graham started for the Fighting Scots and allowed three runs, one earned, on three hits and one walk with one K to her credit.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Carignan notched a 2-for-4 effort with one RBI and two runs scored. Both of her hits were good for extra bases, a double and homer. 
• Mills supplied one hit and one run. 
• Southers scored one run. 
• Gustafson brought one run in and stole one base. 
• Ashley Hubner swiped one bag as a pinch runner. 
• Brandow added one hit. 
• Zellin notched one hit, a double.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Carignan tallied her third homer of the season. 
• McHale produced her first collegiate hit.  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk wraps up the double feature with the Fighting Scots under the lights tonight.