WENHAM, Mass. – Junior catcher Lauren Lombardo (Wolcott, Conn.) drove in an eighth-inning run to lift the seventh-seeded Nichols College softball team past fourth-seeded Roger Williams in an elimination round game of the 2009 The Commonwealth Coast Conference Softball Championship Thursday afternoon at Gordon College. Lombardo’s RBI single broke what had been a 2-2 tie since the teams traded two-run homeruns in the opening inning. Nichols improves to 17-23 and will face fifth-seeded Salve Regina in the second elimination round game of the day. Roger Williams wraps up the season at 28-17.
Sophomore outfielder Ashley Robidoux (Milford, Mass.) cranked out Nichols’ two-run, two-out shot over the centerfield fence in the top of the first to score Lombardo, who had reached via a walk.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Hawks’ Hanna Pirez equalized the score with a two-run, two-out shot to center that plated Michelle Caprice, who had reached on an error.
The game remained a defensive battle until the seventh inning when Roger Williams had runners on second and third with two outs after consecutive hits. Nichols pitcher Lindsay Hassett (Oxford, Mass.), who had allowed just two hits over the previous five innings, induced a high flyout to center to end the threat and force extra innings.
In the top of the eighth with two outs, Lauren Correia (Seekonk, Mass.) bunted her way to first and made it to second when Loren Rozanski (Plainville, Conn.) singled through the left side. Lombardo’s RBI single to center plated Correia, but an inning-ending fielder’s choice kept the Bison from scoring any more.
Roger Williams had runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the eighth, as Samantha Teves hit a hard line drive toward first base. The Bison’s Valeri Calcagni (Rocky Hill, Conn.) picked the ball out of the air and stepped on the bag for the game-ending double play.
Hassett struck out six while allowing two runs (none earned) on six hits to improve to 11-7 on the year. Roger Williams freshman Jaclyn Doolin took the loss. She also struck out six and gave up six hits while striking out three.
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