Softball Splits NE-10 Doubleheader with Franklin Pierce

Box Score - Game 1; Box Score - Game 2

Leominster, Mass. -  Behind a pair of RBI from sophomore Katie Elie (Worcester, Mass.) and junior Deanna Zanetti (Hampden, Mass.) the American International College softball team took game one 4-2 before falling 3-1 in game two of a Northeast-10 doubleheader to the Ravens of Franklin Pierce College Thursday evening.

In the first game, AIC dug itself out of a 1-0 hole in the top of the third when Elie stepped to the plate with seniors Tara DeMontier (Amesbury, Mass.) and Kayla Donnelly (Pittsfield, Mass.) in scoring position and doubled to left center field, helping AIC garner a 2-1 advantage.

The Yellow Jackets held on to the lead until the Ravens nodded the score at two in their half of the fourth. In the fifth, AIC gained the game's eventual winning runs with Zanetti smacked a triple following a DeMontier triple and scored after an error at third base on the play.

Junior Sara Puglisi got the start for the Yellow Jackets pitching three innings allowing four hits and one run before senior Megan Nickerson (Greenfield, Mass.) took over for the final four frames, also allowing only one run. Nickerson earned the win, improving to 2-1 on the season.

In the second contest, sophomore Sara Swepston (Dallas, Pa.) allowed three runs on six hits in a complete game effort, but got only one run in support as AIC fell 3-1.

The lone Yellow Jacket score game in the first inning when sophomore lead-off batter Michelle Franey (Abington, Mass.) reached via a walk, advanced all the way to third, and scored on a passed ball.

AIC will play a doubleheader at St. Rose tomorrow afternoon.