Saturday, March 31, 2018

Mitchell College Softball Stays Hot, Sweeps Southern Vermont

Recap, photo courtesy of Mitchell College
NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College softball team swept a doubleheader from Southern Vermont College on Friday afternoon, winning by final scores of 9-0 and 14-1 in New England Collegiate Conference action at Alumni Field.
SVC batted as the home team in both contests as the doubleheader was originally scheduled to be Southern Vermont's home opener.
The Mountaineers (0-14 overall, 0-2 NECC) are back on the road Saturday for their next twin bill with SVC visiting Dean College for a 1 p.m. Conference start. Mitchell (6-6 overall, 2-0 NECC) is also in league action on Saturday with a 12 p.m. doubleheader at home against Wheelock College.
Game 1 – Mitchell 9, Southern Vermont 0 (5 innings)
The Mariners went up early with three runs in the top of the first, and they padded the cushion through their next four at bats while holding SVC to just a pair of hits.
Southern Vermont's Shea Wilson and Taylor Jarosz each went 1-for-2 at the plate. Wilson struck out five batters from the circle during the loss (0-7 overall).
Mitchell's Suzanne Vachon went 3-for-3 with two runs and two RBI while Stephanie Adams was 2-for-3 with a pair of extra-base hits, three RBI and a run scored.
Mitchell starter Taylor Duchesneau went the distance from the rubber, registering four strikeouts in the complete-game shutout (3-3 overall).
Vachon roped a triple down the line in left to get her team on the board in the top of the first before Adams knocked her in on an ensuing ground-rule double in the same direction. Vachon then tallied another RBI in the second when she singled through the left side to make it 4-0.
Mitchell extended the separation with three runs in the fourth—two of those coming around on an Adams triple down the left field line. The Mariners added another two runs in the top of the fifth before closing out their first NECC win of the year.
Game 2 – Mitchell 14, Southern Vermont 1 (5 innings)
The Mariners used a pair of five-run frames in the front-end of game two for a 10-0 advantage before Southern Vermont got across the plate with a lone run in the home half of the third. Mitchell notched four more runs in the fifth, however, while keeping the Mountaineers from climbing back into it.
SVC's Emma Griffith went 2-for-2 from the batter's box while Erin Girard was 1-for-2 with the stick. Girard was tagged with the loss (0-6 overall) from the circle.
Five Mariners had a multi-hit game including Megan Elphick, who was 2-for-4 with a home run, four RBI and two runs scored. Right-hander Shyla Phillips-Krick tallied a pair of doubles to go 2-for-3 with a walk, three runs batted in and two runs scored.
Phillips-Krick allowed just three hits and struck out one in the win (3-3 overall); the lone run she gave up was unearned.
After neither side could score in the first, Mitchell chalked up a five-spot in the second with the help of five singles. With the bases loaded and one out, Elphick pulled one through the left side to plate a pair. Another pair of run-scoring base hits would follow for the Mariners to put up all they needed for the victory.
Mitchell added five insurance runs in the third—with the help of a two-run homer by Elphick over the fence in left—before SVC got on the board with a solo score. Griffith got aboard with a lead-off single and moved around to third with two down; a wild pitch then allowed her to motor home and make it 10-1.
That would be it for the Mountaineers, however, as Phillips-Krick retired seven of the next nine batters she faced to prevent SVC from staging a comeback. Duchesneau recorded a two-run single through the left side in the fifth to help Mitchell walk out with the sweep.

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