Softball Defeats Newbury, Advances to NECC Semifinals
NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College softball team
finished with 12 hits in a 13-0 victory over Newbury College on
Tuesday afternoon in a quarterfinals match-up of the 2010 NECC
Softball Championship.
Mitchell (21-12 overall) advances on to play second-seeded Elms
College in the semifinals on Friday, May 7 at noon. The semifinals
and championship game will be hosted by top-seeded Lesley
University on the campus of UMass Boston in Cambridge, Mass.
Newbury ends its season with an overall record of 12-23.
The Mariners scored three runs in the first inning to jump out to
an early lead. Freshman Meghan Burke had an
RBI single in the rally while senior Michele
Anderson capped things off with an RBI double to right.
Mitchell tacked on another run in the second before the game was
delayed for nearly 90 minutes due to a passing thunderstorm. When
the game resumed, Mitchell struck for four more runs in the frame
to lead 8-0 heading into the third. The Mariners sent a total of
nine batters to the plate in the frame, with sophomore Nikki Hoxie
supplying the big blow with a two-run homer to center field. It was
the first home run of her collegiate career.
Mitchell added five more runs in the fourth to put the game out of
reach. Senior Kelly Reynolds
plated the first run with a grounder to third, and sophomore Marissa
Thomas followed with an RBI single through the right side. A
wild pitch brought in the next run, and junior Jen Bordonaro drew
a bases-loaded walk to force in another. The final run crossed the
plate on a ground out by Hoxie and put the Mariners up 13-0.
Sophomore pitcher Kristina Torres
gave up three hits over 5.0 innings to record her fifth shutout of
the season. She struck out nine and walked one and improved to 10-7
overall on the season.
Bordonaro went 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored to lead the
Mitchell offense. Sophomore Stacey Suplicki
also had three hits while Anderson and Thomas each finished with a
pair.
Newbury starter Katie O'Hara gave up 13 runs (12 earned) on 12 hits
and struck out three while walking four. She finished the season
with an overall record of 8-11. Ariel Ross had two of the
Nighthawks' three hits in the contest.