Junior Chelsea Stryker was a combined 4-for-6 with a double and two runs scored for Stonehill today. |
Dolan and Gilkes pitch Yellow Jackets to 3-1 win in game one
AIC holds off Skyhawks 5-4 in game two
EASTON, Mass. (April 9, 2011) – American International College swept a Northeast-10 Conference softball doubleheader from Stonehill College at Fr. William Gartland, CSC, Field this afternoon. AIC posted a 3-1 win in game one, before holding off a Stonehill rally for a 5-4 victory in game two.
Freshman Haley Marchand (Swansea, Mass./Joseph Case) led the offensive effort for American International, hitting a combined 4-for-8 with two home runs, a double, three runs scored and two RBI. Senior Becky Dion (Raynham, Mass./Bridgewater-Raynham) was 3-for-6 with a home run, two RBI and two runs scored.
Junior Chelsea Stryker (Baldwin, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) paced Stonehill as she went a combined 4-for-6 with a walk, hit by pitch, double and two runs scored at the plate. Sophomore Kaitlin Miller (Derry, N.H./Pinkerton Academy) batted 3-for-7 with a home run and two RBI.
Junior Samantha Krantz (Hampton Bays, N.Y./Hampton Bays) combined to throw seven innings of two-hit shutout relief over the two games for Stonehill, striking out seven and walking two.
Junior Kristen Dolan (Norwood, Mass./Norwood) struck out 13 batters in a dominant pitching effort to lead American International to the 3-1 win in game one.
Dolan earned the win (3-4) in the circle for AIC, allowing the one earned run on five hits with the 13 strikeouts and three walks in 6.1 innings. Sophomore Erin Gilkes (Troy, N.Y./Lansingburg) retired both batters she faced to notch her first save of the season, stranding the tying runs on base in the seventh.
Haley Marchand, who finished a triple shy of hitting for the cycle over the course of the doubleheader, was 3-for-4 with a double, home run and two runs scored. Junior Sarah Calgreen (Stratford, Conn./Bunnell) was 2-for-4, while Becky Dion finished 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Chelsea Stryker hit 2-for-3 with a double for Stonehill. Senior Ashley Langlois (Ridgefield, Conn./Ridgefield) batted 1-for-3 with an RBI, while freshman Jocelynne Morrell (West Haven, Conn./West Haven) was 1-for-2 with a walk and run scored.
Junior Kaitlin Andrews (Hudson, Mass./Hudson) took the loss (4-4), allowing three runs, two earned, on eight hits with two strikeouts and no walks over four plus innings. Samantha Krantz scattered two hits and a walk over three scoreless innings of relief with two strikeouts.
AIC got on the scoreboard with an unearned run in the second as junior Ashley St. Peter (Gill, Mass./Turners Falls) led off with a single, advanced to second on a passed ball and then scored on a throwing error. The Yellow Jackets doubled their lead in the third as Marchand led off with a double and scored on a single up the middle by Dion.
AIC's lead grew to 3-0 when Marchand led off the fifth with her second home run of the season to center that chased Andrews. Stonehill got its lone run in the sixth as Morrell doubled down the leftfield line with one out and later scored on a two out single up the middle from Langlois. The Skyhawks loaded the bases with one out in the third, but came away empty and then put runners on first and third with one out in the seven as Stryker doubled and Kaitlin Miller singled, but Gilkes got the final two outs to seal her first save of the year.
Sophomore Kaitlin Miller had three hits, including a home run, and two RBI. |
American International built a 5-0 lead after three innings and held off a late Stonehill rally to claim a 5-4 win in game two and complete the doubleheader sweep.
Becky Dion hit 2-for-3 with a home run and two runs scored for AIC, while Sarah Calgreen went 1-for-3 with a homer and two RBI. Haley Marchand finished 1-for-4 with a homer, while freshman Brittany Breault (Washington, Mass./Wahconah Regional) batted 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Freshman Bethany Grimes (Terryville, Conn./Terryville) picked up her first collegiate win (1-3) in the circle for AIC, allowing two earned runs on seven hits with two strikeouts and two walks over 4.2 innings. Erin Gilkes notched her second save of the day, yielding two earned runs on three hits in 2.1 relief innings.
Kaitlin Miller paced Stonehill as she hit 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. Sophomore Kelsey Wilcox (Canterbury, Conn./Griswold) was 2-for-3 with an RBI, while Chelsea Stryker finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Sophomore Nicole Eisenmann (East Bridgewater, Mass./East Bridgewater) chipped in by going 2-for-3 with a double.
Freshman Lindsay McKillop (East Meadow, N.Y./East Meadow) took the loss (2-5) for Stonehill, allowing five earned runs on six hits with a strikeout in two plus innings. Krantz faced two over the minimum in four hitless and scoreless innings of relief, striking out five and walking one.
AIC jumped on top early with a two run first. Dion singled through the left side with one out and then Calgreen smacked her third home run of the season to right center. The Yellow Jackets added a run in the second as junior Michele Niejadlik (Suffield, Conn./Suffield) led off with a double and scored on a two out single to right by Breault. AIC added two more in the third as Marchand and Dion led off the third with back-to-back home runs.
Stonehill, who out-hit AIC 10-7 in the nightcap, broke through with two in the fifth. Freshman Christina Swider (Hebron, Conn./RHAM), Stryker and Miller loaded the bases with three-straight singles with none out. Senior Katy Abarr (Richmond, R.I./The Prout School) drove in a run when she reached on an infield single before Wilcox drew a bases loaded walk
Stonehill added two more in the sixth when Miller followed up a two out single by Stryker with her second homer of the season. The Skyhawks put the tying run on base in the sixth (Einsenmann walk) and seventh (Wilcox single), but could not get closer.