Anomaly Helps Nighthawks To Split Versus Elms

The Newbury College softball team handed Elms College their first conference loss of the season in dramatic fashion as the Nighthawks turned the rare play in baseball and softball: the triple play, to shut-out the Blazers, 3-0, to split the double-header after they fell in game one, 8-6. 

The Blazers jumped on Nighthawk starter Sarah Young (Waterloo, NY/Waterloo) early in the first game. Shortstop Jenna Lipscomb (Cambridge, MA/Lawrence Academy) laid down a one-out bunt for the first Elms hit of the day before swiping second. But Young retired the next batter before first baseman Sarah Buckley (Wilbraham, MA/Minnechaug Regional) came through with driving a two-out double into left center to plate Lipscomb. Left fielder Marlene DiRaimo (Cranston, RI/St. Mary Academy) kept the inning going, tripling to left to score Buckley while Elms starter Courtney Hampton (Westfield, MA/Westfield) helped her own cause with a base hit, single to drive in DiRaimo. Hampton would score the final run of the inning on a double to left center off the bat of Destinee Meeker (Bantam, CT/Litchfield).

Down four, Newbury responded in the bottom of the frame as shortstop Katelyn Mark (Quincy, MA/North Quincy) led off with a walk. Catcher Brittany Stracher (Dudley, MA/Shepherd Hill Regional) singled to left before Young advanced the two runners into scoring position with the sacrifice bunt. Olga Cepeda (Boston, MA/Madison) drove in Mark from third with a single. First baseman Catherine O’Connell (Quincy, MA/North Quincy) kept the inning alive lining a base hit into right center to plate both Stracher and Cepeda before being tagged out at second trying to stretch the single into a double.

After tough first inning, Young settled down and minimized the damage as the Nighthawks began a comeback. The freshman right hander escaped a two-out, bases loaded jam unscathed in the top of the second getting DiRaimo to fly out to right after a lengthy at-bat. But despite the effort, Hampton retired the Nighthawks in order in the bottom of the frame.

Elms batted around in the third to pad their slim one-run lead, pushing across three runs but Newbury answered with two runs of their own in the bottom due to clutch hitting by Cepeda. Following an infield single by Mark, Hampton retired Stracher and Young on strikes before Cepeda drove a deep fly ball to straightaway center field for her second homerun of the season, to close the gap to 7-5.

Young kept the Blazers at bay, retiring the side in order in the fourth and escaping a two-out, first and third situation in the fifth unharmed, as the Nighthawks made it a one-run game. Left fielder Theresa Hylinski (Stratford, CT/Stratford) plated Cepeda in the bottom of the fifth with a base hit to right that dropped in front of right fielder Kim Lastowski (Turner Falls, MA/Turner Falls). But Elms added an insurance run in the top of the sixth and took game one 8-6.

Freshman Katie O’Hara (Abingdon, MD/John Carroll) dominated the Blazers to open the second game, striking out the side in the first and catching Buckley gazing at strike three to begin the second. The Maryland native retired the first 10 Blazers she faced before Lipscomb recorded the game’s first hit, and second base runner, with the infield single to shortstop in the top of the fourth. But she would only get as far as third as Buckley became O’Hara’s sixth strike out victim – second for Buckley – to end the inning.

It was a scoreless game for the first four innings with one hit a piece for both teams until the Nighthawks broke up the stalemate in the fifth. O’Hara worked the one-out walk followed while catcher Ariel Ross (Gales Ferry, CT/Ledyard) battled back, lining a 2-2 pitch into left after falling behind early 0-2. Both players advanced into scoring position on the passed ball by Elms catcher Tiffany Williams (Berlin, CT/Berlin). Following a strikeout by Hylinski for the second out of the inning, centerfielder Jessica Jordan (Stoneham, MA/Stoneham) drove in O’Hara with the game’s first run on a fielder’s choice. Mark added an insurance run, driving home Ross with a base hit to left.

O’Hara kept Elms off balance, retiring the next eight batters since Lipscomb’s single in the fourth. Newbury added to their two-run lead in the bottom of the sixth as O’Connell drove in Young from second with a double into right center to push the lead to three.

But the Blazers were not going to go quietly. Lipscomb singled to begin the top of the seventh and advanced to second on a base hit by Graffum before Buckley, grounded into the triple play to end the game.

The victory improves the Nighthawks to 10-19 on the season and 3-10 in conference play while the Blazers fall to 12-14 and 9-1 in the NECC. Newbury returns to the diamond on Wednesday April 28^th when they travel to UMass-Boston for a non-conference match-up with the Beacons.

- Game Story by Lindsay Graham - Staff Assistant

- Game Photo by Samantha Yanofsky