Softball Sweeps Roger Williams

BRISTOL, R.I. – The Mitchell College softball team swept a doubleheader against Roger Williams University on Sunday afternoon at Paolino Field.

The Mariners blanked the Hawks by a 3-0 final in the opener. Katelyn Lipsky tossed a complete-game shutout while Gemma Landry hit her second home run of the weekend.  

In the second game, Mitchell held on for a 6-5 victory as starter Emily Reynolds put a stop to a late RWU rally. The Hawks had runners at second and third with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but Reynolds buckled down to get two fly balls to end the game.

Mitchell (8-6 overall) has won its last four games and will next host Nichols College on Wednesday, March 30 at 2:30 p.m.

Game 1 – Mitchell 3, Roger Williams 0

Mitchell got off to a fast start as Landry led off the game with a home run to left field. The solo shot was her team-leading second of the season.

The Mariners added a pair of runs in the third inning to buffer the lead. Landry led off with a single up the middle and later scored on a ground out by Jenna Bennett. Two batters later, Alex Lopez doubled to right-center to plate Hannah Lemke to make it 3-0.

The three-run advantage was more than enough for Lipsky, who escaped trouble multiple times throughout the game. Roger Williams left a runner in scoring position in the first and two more in the third, but Lipsky wiggled out of her biggest jam of the day in the sixth. The Hawks looked positioned to break through with runners at second and third and no outs, but a strike out and a double play kept them off the scoreboard.

In the seventh, Roger Williams put two on with no outs but still couldn't get to Lipsky. She retired the next three batters to notch her first shutout of the season, improving to 3-4 on the year. She scattered eight hits over 7.0 innings and struck out four while walking one.

Game 2 – Mitchell 6, Roger Williams 5

Mitchell pounced on Roger Williams early, plating four runs in the top of the first to stake Reynolds to a big lead. The first five batters all reached base, with Brooke Whitmarsh knocking in the first run of the game with a single to left. The Mariners also added runs on a walk by Lopez and a single by Reynolds before RWU starter Ellie Fleming got out of the inning.

The Hawks cut the deficit in half on a two-run single by Caroline Thomas in the fourth inning. Mitchell responded with a run in the fifth on an RBI single by Sarah Aviles that scored Bennett.

Roger Williams plated three runs in the sixth inning to tie the game at 5-5. Casey Uryga delivered a two-out single to right field that brought in the final two runs of the frame.

The Mariners wasted little time regaining the lead, as Lemke and Bennett set the table with back-to-back singles in the seventh. Whitmarsh followed with a double to center to put Mitchell back on top, but that would be all that the visitors would get. Reliever Nicole Corey—who came into a bases-loaded, no-outs situation—escaped the jam without further damage, getting two ground balls and a pop out to end the threat.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Hawks put the tying and winning runs in scoring position with only one out. Roger Williams held the runner at third on a shallow fly ball to right on the penultimate out of the game, and Reynolds closed out the win by getting a fly ball to Bennett in center field.

The top of the Mitchell lineup combined for 10 of the team's 13 hits in the contest. Bennett and Whitmarsh finished with three hits apiece while Landry and Lemke each had two. 

Reynolds (5-2 overall) allowed five runs (three earned) on nine hits and struck out one.