Skyhawks push winning streak to three games

Senior Samantha Krantz picked up the save in game one and the win in game two to push her record to 10-5 this season.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (April 15, 2012) – The Stonehill College softball team swept a pair of Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) games against American International College (AIC) on Sunday afternoon at Judy Groff Field taking game one, 3-2, and game two, 4-2.

Stonehill 3, American International 2

Sophomore Lindsay McKillop (East Meadow, N.Y./East Meadow) improved to 5-3 overall on the season throwing six innings, giving up five hits, two runs (both earned), three walks and one strikeout. Senior Samantha Krantz (Hampton Bays, N.Y./Hampton Bays) recorded her fourth-career save and first this season with a clean seventh inning.

Kristen Dolan (Norwood, Mass./Norwood) suffered the loss in a complete-game effort, yielding four hits, three runs (one earned), six walks and five strikeouts.

AIC took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning as Stephanie Belanger (South Windsor, Conn./South Windsor) plated Laura Rousseau (Chicopee, Mass./Chicopee Comprehensive) with a RBI single.

Belanger made it 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning with a solo homer off of McKillop, her fifth home run of the season.

Dolan kept the Skyhawks scoreless until the top of the seventh inning when Stonehill put three runs on the scoreboard off of one hit and a three-base throwing error.

After sophomore Christina Swider (Hebron, Conn./RHAM) walked to lead off the frame, senior shortstop Chelsea Stryker (Baldwin, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) made it all the way to third base on a throwing error which also allowed Swider to score. Courtney Marchand (Raymond, N.H./Timberlane Regional) tied the game on a fielder's choice RBI and junior designated player Kelsey Wilcox (Canterbury, Conn./Griswold) knocked in the eventual game-winning run with a fielder's choice RBI of her own.

Junior Courtney Marchand gunned down a baserunner at home to end game two and complete the Skyhawks sweep.

Krantz inherited one runner in the seventh, via a walk with no outs, and used three groundouts to pick up her first save of the season.

Stonehill 4, American International 2

Krantz pushed her record to 10-5 overall with a complete-game effort in the circle for the Skyhawks in game two. Krantz allowed nine hits, two runs (both earned), no walks and tied for the game-high in strikeouts with six.

Junior starter Elizabeth Habib (Methuen, Mass./Central Catholic) fell to 2-5 on the season throwing three-and-one-thirds innings while giving up six hits, three runs (two earned) and two strikeouts. Sophomore Bethany Grimes (Terryville, Conn./Terryville) pitched the final three-and-two-thirds innings, yielding three hits, one run (unearned) and fanned six batters.

In the third inning, Stonehill opened up the scoring with a successful double steal as Stryker swiped second base and junior Casey Remick (Norton, Mass./Norton) stole home on the backend of the play for a 1-0 advantage.

Wilcox walked to lead off the fourth inning and came around to score after junior Nicole Eisenmann (East Bridgewater, Mass./East Bridgewater) singled and advanced to third base on a throwing error. Two batters later, sophomore third baseman Jocelynne Morrell (West Haven, Conn./West Haven) drove in Eisenmann with a single to centerfield.

The Yellow Jackets answered with a run-producing double to centerfield from Rousseau in the fifth inning to cut into the gap at 3-1.

Remick responded for the Skyhawks in sixth inning with a RBI double down the right field line driving home junior Kaitlin Miller (Derry, N.H./Pinkerton Academy) who pinch-ran for Eisenmann earlier in the frame.

In the bottom half of the inning, Belanger launched her second homer of the day and her sixth of the season on a 3-1 pitch to make it a 4-2 contest.

Krantz gave up two hits in the bottom of the seventh inning but Marchand's throw from centerfield gunned down sophomore Lindsay Erickson (Kensington, Conn./Berlin) at home to end the game.

Eisenmann, Remick and Wilcox all compiled multi-hit games and scored one run in the victory.

Stonehill (20-12/13-11 NE-10) hosts Saint Anselm College in a NE-10 twinbill on Wednesday, April 18 with game one scheduled for 3 p.m. The doubleheader between both clubs is a makeup of a March 28 rainout from earlier this season. AIC (14-22, 10-14 NE-10) travels to Assumption College on Tuesday, April 17 for a conference doubleheader starting at 3 p.m.