Mottau Goes Distance And Fans Seven For Sixth Win Of Season, Helps Own Cause With Four RBI As Softball Posts First Victory Over Merrimack In 21 Years With 5-2 Northeast-10 Nightcap Triumph
April 19, 2006
STONEHILL SOFTBALL
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Gartland Field, Easton, Mass.
GAME #1 FINAL: MERRIMACK 3, STONEHILL 1
123 456 7 R H E
Merrimack (9-22, 5-8 Northeast-10) 000 020 1 - 3 8 0
Stonehill (15-11-1, 8-6-1 Northeast-10) 000 001 0 - 1 4 1
BATTERIES
MER: Lauren Otto and Kelsey Vale
STO: Danielle Mason and Caitlin Flanagan
WP: Otto (7-8) LP: Mason (10-3) Home Run: MER – Kristen Belair (2)
GAME #2 FINAL: STONEHILL 5, MERRIMACK 2
123 456 7 R H E
Merrimack (9-23, 5-9 Northeast-10) 200 000 0 - 2 9 0
Stonehill (16-11-1, 9-6-1 Northeast-10) 020 201 x - 5 6 0
BATTERIES
MER: Clarice Pepper, Vicky Cotter (4) and Jackie Rubino
STO: Katie Mottau and Courtney Young
WP: Mottau (6-4) LP: Pepper (2-7)
EASTON, Mass.-- Freshman Katie Mottau (Woonsocket, R.I.) scattered nine hits and struck out seven to pick up her sixth victory of the season, helping her own cause by driving in four runs with a pair of doubles as Stonehill gained a split of a Northeast-10 Conference softball doubleheader with Merrimack with a 5-2 nightcap victory Wednesday afternoon at Gartland Field. The Warriors took the opener by a 3-1 final.
Mottau's effort enabled the host Skyhawks (16-11-1, 9-6-1 Northeast-10) to end the visiting Warriors' (9-23, 5-9 Northeast-10) 31-game series winning streak between the two teams that dates back to April 21, 1985, nearly 21 years to the day. Stonehill won the first two match-ups with Merrimack on that day in 1985, but the Warriors had swept every doubleheader since 1986 and extended the streak to 31 straight with a win in Wednesday's opener.
Merrimack jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the nightcap on a pair of RBI singles by junior Clarissa Lewis (Virginia Beach, Va.) and senior Jackie Rubino (Wilmington, Mass.), but Stonehill evened matters in the bottom of the second when Mottau laced a two-run double and took the lead for good in the fourth on back-to-back RBI doubles by Mottau and sophomore Lauren Polselli (Portsmouth, R.I.). Mottau's completed her four RBI performance with a sacrifice fly in the sixth, as she retired 10 of the last 12 batters she faced and didn't allow a hit after the fifth to improve to 6-4 on the season. Freshman Courtney Young (Danvers, Mass.) joined Mottau with a pair of hits in the win for the Skyhawks, while Lewis and junior Tracy Vadala (Salem, N.H.) each had two hits in the nightcap setback for the Warriors, as sophomore Clarice Pepper (Belgrade, Maine) allowed six hits and four runs over 3 2/3 innings to fall to 2-7 on the mound.
Merrimack senior Lauren Otto (North Andover, Mass.) and Stonehill sophomore Danielle Mason (Salisbury, Mass.) locked up in a scoreless duel in the opener until the fifth when junior Kristen Belair's (Methuen, Mass.) two-run homer (her second of the season) staked the Warriors to 2-0 cushion. The Skyhawks answered back with a run in the sixth on an RBI single by sophomore Caitlin Flanagan (Cornwall, N.Y.), but Merrimack plated an insurance tally in the seventh to close out the scoring on Otto's RBI single. Vadala joined Otto with a pair of hits in the opening game win for the Warriors, as Otto scattered four hits and fanned six to go to 7-8 on the season. Freshman Meghan Sheehy (East Islip, N.Y.) rapped out a pair of hits in the setback for Stonehill, as Mason allowed just one earned run in going the distance to suffer just her third setback in 13 decisions.
Stonehill hosts Assumption in a Northeast-10 twinbill on Saturday afternoon at Gartland Field beginning at Noon, while Merrimack entertains Bentley in a Northeast-10 doubleheader on Thursday afternoon in North Andover, Mass. that begins at 3:30 p.m.