Story courtesy of Rob Palardy, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Lesley University softball team finished up their previously postponed doubleheader against Newbury College with an 8-2 victory over the Nighthawks in the final game of the 2010 regular season. Lesley will move on to the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Championships next week as the #1 seed with a 22-10 (15-1 NECC) record.
Newbury ends their regular season with a 12-22 (5-11 NECC) mark and will wait until the final results of all conference contests are in to find out if they will earn the final spot in the playoff seeding.
Lesley's leadoff threat Emily Mangiaratti (AMHERST, Mass./Amherst Regional) went 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI to lead the Lynx offense. Also getting multiple hits on the day were senior Jodi Fralick (WOBURN, Mass./Woburn) and Ashley Cunningham (MOUNTAIN TOP, Pa./Crestwood) who each had two hits.
Leading the Nighthawks at the plate was Brittany Stracher (DUDLEY, Mass./Shepherd Hill Regional) who went 2-for-4 in the game. Pitcher Katie O'Hara (ABINGDON, Md./John Carroll) and Catherine O'Connell (QUINCY, Mass./North Quincy) each had RBIs in the game.
The Lynx scored five runs in the first two innings to jump out to a 5-0 advantage early on. In the first inning with runners on second and third with one out, Alyson Durben (STOW, Mass./Nashoba Regional) dropped a single into right field to score Jessica Guevara (NANTUCKET, Mass./Nantucket) and Fralick. Durben later scored on a suicide squeeze bunt by Georgia Saltzman (LYNN, Mass./Lynn English).
In the next inning, Lesley tacked on two more runs courtesy of an RBI single by Mangiaratti and when junior Chelsea Quackenbush (EAST HAMPTON, Conn./East Hampton) advanced home from third when Mangiaratti stole second base.
The Nighthawks cut the Lynx lead down to three with two runs in the top of the fourth inning. O'Hara's single down the leftfield line scored Ariel Ross (GALES FERRY, Conn./Ledyard) and later an O'Connell hit to centerfield brought home Olga Cepeda (BOSTON, Mass./Madison Park).
The score remained 5-2 until the bottom of the sixth inning when Lesley scored three times to put the game away. In the inning, Jenna Fralick (WOBURN, Mass./Woburn) hit an RBI single up the middle to score Rian Powers (PORTLAND, Maine/Deering), Guevara scored Jenna Fralick on a RBI groundout, and Jodi Fralick brought home Mangiaratti on an RBI single up the middle.
Lesley hurler's Cassandra Knox (SEA CLIFF, N.Y./North Shore) and Guevara combined to give the Lynx the win. Knox went five innings with six strikeouts, giving up two runs while Guevara came in to earn her second save in as many days with two innings pitched with one strikeout.
Newbury's O'Hara went the distance giving up eight runs, seven earned, on 10 hits while striking out three.
Lesley and Newbury will now wait to find out the playoff seedings for the NECC Championships to be played May 4th-May 9th.