Skyhawks win game one, 5-1, drop game two, 4-3

Junior Kelsey Wilcox drove in four runs total in both games for Stonehill.

WALTHAM, Mass. (March 20, 2012) – The Stonehill College softball team split its Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) doubleheader with Bentley University on Tuesday evening taking game one, 5-1, and dropping game two, 4-3.

Stonehill 5, Bentley 1

Newly minted NE-10 Player of the Week Nicole Eisenmann (East Bridgewater, Mass./East Bridgewater) continued her torrid pace at the plate in game one going 2-for-4 with one run scored and a three-run homer to lead the Skyhawks offensively.

Senior Samantha Krantz (Hampton Bays, N.Y./Hampton Bays) earned the win (4-0) on six-and-one-thirds innings pitched, seven hits, one run (earned), two walks and a game-high six strikeouts. Senior Kellie Reardon (Burlington, Mass./Arlington Catholic) recorded the final two outs of the game along with one walk.

Junior pitcher Carly Taitz (Blue Point, N.Y./Bayport-Blue Point) was handed the loss in a complete game effort. Taitz gave up 11 hits, five runs (four earned), no walks and one strikeout.

Stonehill grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning as senior shortstop Chelsea Stryker (Baldwin, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) led off the frame with a single. After a groundout that moved Stryker to second and an Eisenmann single, junior catcher Kelsey Wilcox (Canterbury, Conn./Griswold) ripped a single to centerfield plating Stryker for the early advantage.

The Skyhawks tacked on another run in the fifth inning as Wilcox drove in Stryker, who had a leadoff single, with a base hit to left field for a 2-0 gap.

In the seventh, Eisenmann crushed a three-run home run to left field scoring Stryker and junior centerfielder Courtney Marchand (Raymond, N.H./Timberlane Regional) pushing the score to 5-0.

Bentley broke up the shutout bid in the bottom half of the inning as sophomore centerfielder Jackie Gauthier (Braintree, Mass./Braintree) deposited a RBI single to left field bringing home senior catcher Megan Blier (Wells, Maine/Wells) who singled to lead off the frame. Reardon finished out the seventh with two groundouts and a walk sandwiched in between.

Stryker went 2-for-4 with three runs scored and Wilcox was 2-for-4 with two runs driven in. Sophomore third baseman Jocelynne Morrell (West Haven, Conn./West Haven) also compiled a multi-hit performance going 2-for-4.

Sophomore Lindsay McKillop pitched six innings in relief for the Skyhawks in game two.

Bentley 4, Stonehill 3

Freshman Caitlin Bets (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) picked up her first-career collegiate win in game two on five-and-one-thirds innings pitched, five hits, three runs (all earned), two walks and one punchout. Taitz notched her first save of the season yielding just one hit over the final one-and-two-thirds innings of the contest.

Senior Kaitlin Andrews (Hudson, Mass./Hudson) did not record an out for her first loss of the season (3-1). Andrews let up three hits and two runs (both earned). Sophomore reliever Lindsay McKillop (East Meadow, N.Y./East Meadow) turned in a nice performance out of the pen throwing six innings, allowing five hits, two runs (all earned), no walks and two strikeouts.

Wilcox pushed the Skyhawks ahead 1-0 in the top of the first inning extending her hitting streak and RBI streak to five games with a run-producing single to left field scoring Stryker.

Bentley answered in the bottom half of the inning with a pair of runs to take a 2-1 lead and also snapped Stonehill's winning streak of eight-straight games when scoring first (8-1). Gauthier led off the frame with a triple and immediately scored on Alyssa Wagner's (Suffield, Conn./Suffield) RBI single to left. Junior outfielder Erica Thibodeau (Cohoes, N.Y./Shaker) broke up the tie with a groundout to short that drove in Wagner.

The Falcons added two more runs in the third inning as Thibodeau smacked a two-run double to left field plating freshman Shannon Connor (West Haven, Conn./West Haven) and junior Laura McDonough (Braintree, Mass./Braintree) who both singled to reach base and eventually score.

In the sixth inning, Stonehill cut into the deficit with a pair of runs to make it 4-3. Eisenmann led off with a single to left field – pushing her hitting streak to eight games (16 hits total during that span) – and came around to score on a Wilcox RBI triple to right field. McKillop reached base on a fielding error by the second baseman allowing Wilcox to score but the Skyhawks rally fell short with the game tying run stranded at second.

Marchand extended her hitting streak to five games with a single in the seventh.

Thibodeau led the Falcons offensively going 1-for-3 with three runs batted in. For Stonehill, Wilcox went 2-for-4 with one run scored and two RBI. Reardon pushed her hitting streak to six games going 1-for-1.

Stonehill (9-3, 4-2 NE-10) travels to Saint Michael's College on Saturday, March 24 for a NE-10 doubleheader clash beginning at noon. Bentley (3-7, 1-1 NE-10) hosts Saint Anselm College on Sunday, March 25 in NE-10 doubleheader action at noon.