Newbury College Advances Past Softball, 5-2 in NECC Championship First Round

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Elms College junior shortstop Gina DiGiovanni (Springfield, Mass.) cranked a go-ahead two-run homer in the top of the seventh to give the Blazers a 2-1 lead, but Newbury College used a walk-off grand slam from Emily Humphries (Westborough, Mass.) to give the fourth-seeded Nighthawks a 5-2 victory over the fourth-seeded Blazers in Wednesday afternoon's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Championship First Round contest.

With the loss, Elms concludes its season 12-16 overall, while Newbury improves to 16-17 on the season and advances to the semifinals of the NECC Championship tournament.

After three scoreless innings of play, Newbury took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when Naomi Ricciotti (Phoenix, Ariz.) singled in Lindsey Clark (River Edge, N.J.).

Nighthawks' pitcher Olivia Kenyon (Canton, Mass.) held Elms scoreless through the first six frames of the contest and allowed just two hits until freshman designated player Tessa Cote (Granby, Mass.) connected for a base hit and then scored on DiGiovanni's clutch homer - the first of her career - giving the Blazers a 2-1 advantage.

In the bottom of the seventh, Alyssa Donovan (West Haven, Conn.) cracked a one-out double before Kenyon and Clark were both hit by a pitch with two outs. Humphries then delivered a game-ending grand slam to lift Newbury to a thrilling a 5-2 win.

Kenyon earned the complete-game win in the circle for the Nighthawks and improves to 14-13 on the season. She struck out six batters and scattered four hits.

Elms' junior hurler Beth Grimes (Terryville, Conn.) fanned 13 batters and scattered five hits but suffered the loss in 6.2 innings of work to move to 6-7 on the season.

Elms' senior first baseman Ally Witaszek (Feeding Hills, Mass.) and freshman right fielder Kylen O'Hearn (Somers, Conn.) each had hits for the Blazers in the losing effort.