Softball Slips Past Dean

NEW LONDON, Conn. -- The Mitchell College softball team posted a pair of one-run victories over Dean College on Wednesday afternoon, winning by final scores of 3-2 and 8-7 in New England Collegiate Conference action at Alumni Field.

Taylor Duchesneau played a key role in both wins, earning decisions that improved her record to 5-11 overall. After tossing a complete game in the opener, she threw 4.0 innings of relief in the nightcap and also knocked in the winning run with a single to left field in the bottom of the eighth inning. 

Mitchell (10-19 overall, 3-9 NECC) will next host Bay Path University on Saturday, April 27 at 11 a.m.

Game 1 - Mitchell 3, Dean 2

Dean struck first with a run in the second, but Mitchell tied the game in the third thanks to an RBI single by Suzanne Vachon. The score remained knotted at 1-1 until the sixth when a sacrifice bunt by Kaitlin Thibodeau-Corey plated a pair of runs.

Duchesneau gave up a run in the seventh but stranded the tying run at second base, ending the game by getting a ground ball to third. She allowed two runs (one earned) on eight hits and struck out four.

Game 2 - Mitchell 8, Dean 7 (8 innings)

Both offenses heated up in the second game as each team posted double-digit hits. Vachon paced the Mariners with a 3-for-4 effort that included a double and triple.

Mitchell got on the scoreboard with a run in the first inning on a ground out by Nene Capeles that scored Vachon. The Bulldogs tied the game in the third and then took their first lead with three runs in the fourth. After the Mariners got a run back courtesy of a sac fly by Alex Lopez in the home half of the fouth, Dean responded with a pair of runs in the fifth to expand the lead to 6-2.

The Mariners made up the difference with a pair of runs in both the sixth and seventh innings. A Lopez single and a Thibodeau-Corey double plated runs in the sixth, and a Vachon double in the seventh cut the deficit to one. Mitchell then scored the tying run on a Dean throwing error to send the game into extra innings.

A two-out double by Karissa Menzinger gave Dean the lead in the top of the eighth. In the bottom of the frame, the Mariners had runners at second and third with one out when Madison Nicynski tied the game with a ground ball to second. Two batters later, Duchesneau delivered the big hit to seal the walk-off win.

Duchesneau surrendered three runs (two earned) on three hits while Vachon, got the starting nod, gave up four runs (one earned) on nine hits over 4.0 innings.