Strong Pitching Leads Softball to Sweep of Pine Manor

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College softball team swept a doubleheader from Pine Manor College on Wednesday afternoon by final scores of 10-0 and 8-0 in non-conference action at Alumni Field.

The Mariners benefitted from solid pitching performances from Taylor Duchesneau and Shyla Phillips-Krick. Duchesneau allowed only three hits and struck out four in the opener before Phillips-Krick held the visitors to two hits and fanned five to close out the day.

Mitchell (4-6 overall) will next host Southern Vermont College on Friday, March 30 at 1 p.m. Pine Manor (0-6 overall) returns to action at home against Lesley University on Saturday, March 31 at noon.

Game 1 – Mitchell 10, Pine Manor 0 (5 innings)

Mitchell went up 1-0 in the first inning after Suzanne Vachon singled, stole second base and later scored on an error. The Mariners then added three runs in the second to go up 4-0. Maliah Pabellon had an RBI single in the frame while Vachon also plated a run with a sacrifice fly.

Four errors by the Gators fueled a four-run third inning for the Mariners, who had only one hit in the frame. Mitchell's final two runs came in the fourth when Danielle Autieri scored on another PMC error and Megan Elphick crossed the plate on a wild pitch.

Duchesneau faced only two batters over the minimum and didn't issue a walk. She improved to 2-3 on the year.

Nahalia Faurot finished with two of PMC's three hits in the game.

Game 2 – Mitchell 8, Pine Manor 0 (5 innings)

Mitchell kept the runs coming in the second game, scoring four times in the second inning to jump out to an early lead. Samantha DelConte highlighted the frame with an RBI double that scored Samantha Rivera.

In the third, the Mariners tacked on four more runs as Laurissa Amaker got things started with an RBI single. Phillips-Krick then helped her own cause with a two-run base hit, and Duchesneau capped things off with an RBI single to center.

Phillips-Krick (2-3 overall) took a no-hitter into the fourth inning before giving up a double to Ashley Smith. Aleah Lauti also singled in the fifth to round out the PMC offense.