CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Lesley University softball team took both ends of a doubleheader with Bay Path College in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action this afternoon on the campus of Wellesley College. The Lynx topped the Wildcats 2-0 in the first game of the day while using a 7-2 decision to capture game two. Lesley freshman Alyson Nisbet (Clovis, Calif.) provided a great effort in the circle for the Lynx, earning the win in the opener while picking up her first save in game two. The Lynx improve to 5-11 on the season and a perfect 4-0 in NECC play while the Wildcats drop to 1-9 overall and 0-2 in the conference.
Game One: Lesley 2, Bay Path 0
The Lynx wasted little time to get on the board in game one. With two on and two out in the bottom of the first inning, sophomore Angela Mukai (Amherst, N.H.) singled to right to bring in freshman Carlyn Barker (Marietta, Calif.). First year Mekenzi Golden (Laguna Niguel, Calif.), who reached with a single of her own, also scored on the play following an overthrow in the infield to give the Lynx a 2-0 edge.
That would be all the offense Nisbet would need. The freshman yielded just two hits while striking out a career-high nine batters in the complete game effort to earn her third win of the season. The right-hander was perfect through 3 2/3 innings before giving up a two-out single to Bay Path senior Keelin Dougherty (Northfield, R.I.), and faced only four batters over the minimum 21 on the afternoon.
After giving up two runs in the first inning, Dougherty quieted the Lesley bats and held the Lynx scoreless while allowing just a single hit over the next five innings. The senior limited the Lynx - who smacked a season-high 17 hits against Newbury on Wednesday - to just four hits in the game while racking up three strikeouts.
The Wildcats took advantage of a pair of Lynx fielding blunders to put together a threat in the top of the fifth inning. Senior Mercedes Griffith (Malden,Mass.) started the threat by reaching on an error in the Lynx infield and advanced to second. After Nisbet recorded a strikeout, Bay Path took advantage of another Lynx miscue and had runners on the corners with one out. Nisbet escaped the jam by recording her eighth strikeout of the afternoon and ended the inning by forcing an infield pop-up to keep the Wildcats scoreless.
Nisbet received some help from her defense in the late innings as senior catcher Allison Fountain (Cheshire, Conn.) gunned down an attempted base-stealer in the top of the sixth and classmate Maria Nazzaro (North Reading, Mass.) made a terrific catch crashing into the centerfield fence to make the first out of the seventh as the Lynx held on for the 2-0 win.
Both pitchers were extremely efficient on the day as Nisbet threw 60 of her 88 pitches for strikes, yielding just one free pass, while Dougherty hurled 48 of her 71 over the plate without giving up a walk.
Game Two: Lesley 7, Bay Path 2
Once again the Lynx put up a crooked number to kick off the scoring in the bottom of the first inning when senior Nicole Mercurio (Wakefield, Mass.) blasted her first home run of the year, a two-run shot over the left field fence to give Lesley a 2-0 edge.
The lead would not last long, however, as Griffith matched Mercurio's blast in the top of the second inning with a two-run homer of her own to left-centerfield to knot things up at 2-2.
Griffith's home run, her first of the year, would be the only hit of the game for the Wildcats as Lynx starter Jordan Thomas (Fitchburg, Mass.) and Nisbet stifled the Bay Path bats.
Thomas went the first five innings, allowing just the two runs and one hit while striking out five to earn her second win of the season while Nisbet came in to finish things in the final two innings. Nisbet struck out the side in each of her two innings in picking up the first save of her career. On the day, the freshman fired nine innings, allowing just two hits while striking out fifteen batters and walking one.
With the score knotted at 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning, sophomore Jess Reynolds (Londonderry, N.H.) laced a one-out single to left allowing Mercurio, who led off the inning with a double, to cross the plate. Lesley would tack on two more in the inning with a pair of back-to-back RBI singles from Fountain and Nazzaro to give the Lynx a 5-2 advantage.
Lesley would take advantage of a Bay Path error in the bottom of the sixth inning as they added a pair of insurance runs to take the 7-2 lead.
Mercurio led the Lynx offense, going 2-for-3 with a home run, double, two runs scored, and two RBI. Reynolds finished a perfect 2-for-2 at the dish while scoring a pair of runs. Barker and junior Jodee Doka (Sacramento, Calif.) also finished with two hits and a run scored for the Lynx.
Lesley is back in NECC action tomorrow when they play Regis College in a doubleheader starting at noon. The games will be played on the Regis College campus with Lesley playing as the home team. Bay Path will also return to the diamond tomorrow as they travel to NECC foe Mitchell College for a pair of games starting at 1:00p.