BEVERLY, Mass. – Junior centerfielder Theresa Pereira (Hopedale, Mass.) went four-for-six with three doubles and three RBIs as the Lynx drop two games against non-conference Endicott College, Wednesday afternoon.
The Lynx drop to 10-15 on the season while the Gulls improve to 17-13.
Game 1: Endicott 10, Lesley 6
First year right-hander Sarah Bushman (Aurora, Colo.) retired back-to-back batters by way of the "K" to get out of the bottom of the first unscathed. It ignited the Lynx offense as they put up a crooked number four in the top of the second.
Sophomore first baseman Jordan Raab (Rochester, N.H.) and senior Alyson Nisbet (Clovis, Calif.) opened the frame with back-to-back singles. Bushman helped her own cause laying down a perfect bunt to move Raab and Nisbet up two bags. Two batters later following a ground-out, Pereira ripped a two-run double before scoring herself on a an error by the shortstop. The Lynx were far from done. Senior rightfielder Mekenzi Golden (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) capped off the inning launching her third homerun in three games to put Lesley up 4-0.
The lead was short-lived. In the home-half of the second, the Gulls put up a five spot due to a three-run blast by backstop Emily Sharpe to take the one-run, 5-4 lead. Endicott never looked back, scoring 10 unanswered runs from the second to the sixth inning to take the 10-4 lead.
Lesley broke up the string of scoreless innings scoring twice in the top of the seventh. After junior second baseman Courtney Goggin (Cheshire, Conn.) began the inning a base-hit through the left-side, Pereira drove her in with a her second double and third RBI of the game. Two batters later, sophomore shortstop Abby Henderson (Rochester, N.H.) brought in Pereira to cut deficit to four, 10-6. But it was not enough as the Gulls held on for the win.
Gull starter Michaela Hamill earned the victory improving to 6-1 on the season tossing seven innings allowing six runs on 11 hits while striking out five. Bushman took the loss, falling to 5-6 on the year after giving up eight runs – seven earned – on 11 hits and striking out four in 3.2 innings.
Game 2: Endicott 4, Lesley 1
The Gulls jumped on the Lynx game two starter, Nisbet, early, pushing across three runs in the bottom of the first to take the 3-0 lead. But the Lynx were swinging the bat well and were not going to back down.
In the top of the third inning, Lesley was able to take advantage of a costly Endicott error to get on the scoreboard. Senior third baseman Carlyn Barker (Temecula, Calif.) ripped a one-out single back where it came from then advanced 60 feet on a wild pitch. Two batters later, Raab kept the inning alive reaching on an error by the leftfield as Barker came in to score the Lynx's first run to cut the deficit to 3-1.
But Endicott got the run right back in bottom of the third to push the lead back to three, 4-1. It was all Gull starter Laura Somerville needed as she went on to retire seven of the next eight batters she faced. The lone hit during the string was a double to rightfield off the bat of Pereira, who was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple.
Somerville earned her eighth victory of the season improving to 8-4 after tossing complete-game, seven innings allowing one unearned run on seven hits while striking out seven. Nisbet took the loss dropping her to 4-7 on the year.
The Lynx return to the diamond on Friday April 21st when they begin a string of nine games in five days playing two against non-conference Framingham State University. First pitch is slated for 3:00 p.m.