Newbury Captures Walkoff Victories Over Softball

Kaleigh Anderson (@KaleighAnd1)

NORTHBOROUGH, Mass. – The Elms College Softball team fell to host Newbury College in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) doubleheader action Tuesday night at the New England Baseball Complex. The Blazers lost, 6-5, during the first contest, and 6-5 in the second game to close out the day. Elms shifts to 13-16 on the season and 7-7 in conference action, while the Nighthawks rise to 14-11-1 overall and 10-4 in NECC play.

 Game 1: Newbury 6, Elms 5

The afternoon got off to a slow start with both squads going scoreless in the first inning. However the Nighthawks were able to light up the scoreboard first securing the initial run of the day in the bottom of the second after an Alina Milauskas (Elkridge, Md.) single rang in Noelle Sass (Randolph, Mass.) who had previously doubled to left center field.

Elms pushed back, knotting the contest to a 1-1 score during the fourth. The run started with a Madison Messier (Warren, Mass.) single to center field followed by Elizabeth Olszewski (Canterbury, Conn.) reaching on a throwing error in turn sending Messier home for the Blazers. 

The Nighthawks continued their scoring efforts posting two more runs during the bottom of the fourth. The stint began with a Sass single to third base followed by an Alexis Viera (Pawtucket, RI.) single to center field pushing Sass to the second base bag. With two runners on deck Milauskas picked up a walk for the Nighthawks to load the diamond.  Lindsey Clark (Venice, Fla.) then placed a sacrifice fly out to center field that was secured by Blazer Keyla Oliveras (Springfield, Mass.), however Sass was able to reach home plate for the Nighthawks. Pinch runner Elizabeth Fox (Orono, Maine) also tallied a run for Newbury posting a 3-1 score.

Elms continued to rally producing two runs of their own throughout the fifth as Erin O'Donnell (Glenmont, NY.) and Oliveras both made it around the bases for the Blazer squad to once again notch the contest posting a tied 3-3 scoreboard to start the bottom of the fifth. From there Newbury would take control capturing two more tallies to once again seize the lead as Sass homered bringing home Sherl Liggiero (Tewksbury, Mass.) from second.

Elms was able to post one more tally in the top of the seventh as Olszewski doubled to left center field sending Tea Sullivan (Dracut, Mass.) home. The Nighthawks finished out the contest posting their final run of the night in the bottom of the seventh with Liggero scoring for Newbury to give them a 6-5 winning scoreboard.

Game 2: Newbury 6, Elms 5

In game two, the Blazers came out swinging early tallying three runs in the first. The stint began with a Kacey Gifford (Suffield, Conn.) single to left field followed by a Sullivan walk to put two Blazers on base. Messier came up big for Elms tripling down the right field line bringing in both Gifford and Sullivan to snag an early two runs. Messier continued her scoring stint taking home plate on a wild pitch to post a 3-0 scoreboard. The Blazers were able to keep Newbury out of the scoring column while tacking on another tally during the fourth inning when O'Donnell doubled to left field and made it around the diamond off of an Olszewski double down the right line.

During the top of the sixth Elms once again snagged a run with Olszewski scoring for the Blazers to post a 5-0 scoreboard.

Newbury however kept pushing going on a five run stint throughout the bottom of the sixth. The comeback included runs from Milauskas, Vieira, Donovan, Fox, and Liz Kia (Kea'au, Hawaii). Liggero and Kia led in hits with three apiece while Kia led in RBI's with three for Newbury.

The Nighthawks were able to keep Elms scoreless in the seventh while posting a single run off a Kia single that sent Emily Humphries (Westborough, Mass.) to the home plate bag for the win.

For Elms Messier led in RBI's with two and hits with three.  

The Blazers will return to action Thursday, April 19^th at 3:30 p.m. for a conference matchup against Regis. The Nighthawks will play host to Lesley University Thursday the 21^st with a 5:00 pm start time^.

ELMS SOFTBALL