CAMBRIDGE, MA – Lesley University celebrated Senior Day at Buckingham Field with a sweep of Daniel Webster, beating the Eagles 17-0 and 10-1, finishing the regular season on a 16-game winning streak after a 16-0 record in New England Collegiate Conference play.
Cassandra Knox (Sea Cliff, NY/North Shore) pitched her third no-hitter of the month, working the first three innings of Game 1 before freshman Nicole Mercurio (Wakefield, MA/Wakefield) provided two innings of hitless relief. Knox struck out six, picking up her 12th win of the year before turning it over to Mercurio for the final two innings.
Back-to-back triples from Lesley's Gabrielle Brixey (Coalinga, CA/West Hills CC) and senior Alyson Durben (Stow, MA/Nashoba Regional) ignited an eight-run first inning of the opener. Fellow fourth-year All-NECC selection Ashley Cunningham (Mountain Top, PA/Crestwood) opened a nine-run second inning with a two run single and later in the frame drove in Durben with an RBI single to center, and the 17-0 score stuck as the final in five.
Durben and Emily Mangiaratti (Amherst, MA/Amherst) each scored three times, and Brixey, Cunningham and Molly Sarson (Sanford, ME/Sanford) each drove in three,
For the Eagles, Amanda Wilson (Merrimack, NH/Merrimack) put in two scoreless innings of relief work, striking out two.
Similar to the opener, back-to-back two-run doubles from Mercurio and Cunningham did the damage in Lesley's four-run first inning of Game 2. Starting pitcher Jennifer Dorval (Franklin, NH/Franklin) got in on the offense with a two-run double an inning later, which upped the lead to 7-0.
In the third, Brixey's second two-run triple of the day followed by a Durben RBI single increased Lesley's lead to 10-0.
Daniel Webster's T.C. DiSantis (Hinsdale, MA/St. Joseph's) tripled and scored in the loss as the Eagles fell to 6-16.
After striking out a career-high 14 Friday night, Dorval fanned nine, allowing an unearned run in her five innings in improving to 12-2 on the season.
Lesley improves to 26-6 and finishes NECC play a perfect 16-0, the first undefeated finish in the league's young history. Lesley's program-record winning streak extends to 16 games as the Lynx no await NECC Tournament seedings.