Simmons Takes Two From Norwich

Prior to their first meeting, the Norwich and Simmons softball teams were both tied in the GNAC pre-season coaches’ poll at a sixth place finish. In their first 2010 match-up, Simmons came out with the offense in the first game winning 4-0, and broke it open in the second with a score of 11-3. Winning pitchers for the Sharks were Courteney Collier, who improves to 6-2, and rookie Sami Hodgkins, who collected her second win. The Sharks had three batters with over four hits for the day. Junior Annie Thompson led Simmons going 5 for 6, with three RBIs. Ashley Wheeler followed close behind going 4-7 with three RBIs and Emily Nalband went 4-8 with 3 RBIs also. Leading the Cadets offense were juniors Lindsay Carey who went 3-6 for the day with an RBI and junior Marley Balasco, who went 2-6 with two doubles.

Simmons started it off in the bottom of the first with their offense swinging. Courteney Collier got on with a walk, and then was moved over with a line drive up the middle by Annie Thompson. Sophomore Ashley Wheeler hit a single to left to bring in Collier. With runners on first and third, Emily Colligan launched a double to left field to bring in Thompson and lift the score to 2-0.

Sharks Shortstop Annie Thompson

Norwich battled right back in the second, leading off with a hit up the middle by freshman Jessalyn Sweeney. With two outs, junior Mackenzie Pratt had an amazing push bunt past the pitcher, but Collier dove, reversed gloved it and got the out.

Amanda Gould lead the second inning off for the Sharks with a hard hit ball in the five six hole. With two outs, Emily Nalband came up with single, Collier followed with a single to centerfield, then Thompson brought Nalband home with a single to right field making the score 3-0.

In the bottom of the third the Sharks tried to rally again, but the Cadets kept them from crossing the plate. Senior Leah Derderian started with a single up the middle. With Derderian on first, Colligan followed with another line drive up the middle. But the Cadet shortstop Jessalyn Sweeney made two great plays to first, and then doubled off the runner at second to end the inning.

The fourth inning was a battle of the defenses. With Simmons up 2-0, Collier fielded an out on the mound and got the other at the plate. Junior Stephanie Murray started the offense off for the Sharks with a leadoff single followed by Nalband with a hit to center. However, sophomore pitcher Mackenzie Pratt made the next batter fly out, which prevented the base runners from advancing. Next batter, the Cadets forced a fielders choice, and finished the inning with a strikeout.

The Cadets tried to come back in the top of the sixth with two outs by a long shot ball by junior Lindsay Carey, but with a spectacular relay was held to a triple. Collier kept Carey from scoring by ending the inning with a strikeout. Gould then led off for Simmons with a hit to right center and then stole second to put herself in scoring position. Nalband drove the ball to second base for the out, but brought home Gould to make the score 4-0.

In the top of the seventh, Sweeney came out with a single to centerfield starting a rally for the Cadets. Junior Caitlin Wohlschlegel drove a single in the five six hole, advancing Sweeney to second base with no outs. Then Pratt advanced Sweeney to third with a fielder’s choice. With runners on first and third and only one out, Collier caught a fly ball to earn the second out. On a steal attempt, Nalband threw a bullet to Thompson to tag out the runner heading to second to end the game with a final score of 4-0.

In the second game, the Cadets made the Sharks work hard. They put the ball in play and forced Simmons to make an error, allowing Marley Balasco to get on base. However, Balasco was stranded when the Sharks buckled down and made the outs. Nalband set the tone for the Sharks offense in the bottom of the first, placing a hit to left field to lead the inning. Collier followed with a single, advancing Nalband to second. Then Thompson drove the ball to right field to make the bases loaded with no outs. Now the Sharks fourth batter, Ashley Wheeler, was at the plate. Wheeler launched a single to the five six gap to bring in Nalband, putting Simmons on the board. The Cadets battled back getting the next out at home and stranding the runners on base. Colligan then was hit by a pitch to bring in Thompson while keeping the bases loaded. Freshman Cailin Pagel came up to the plate and smacked the ball to centerfield bringing in Wheeler, lifting the lead to 3-0. Norwich put an end to the Sharks rally by forcing a fielder’s choice and making a spectacular play by throwing out a runner on a tag up.

The Cadets’ MacKenzie Pratt had a one out single to left-center in the second inning, but was left on base when rookie pitcher Sami Hodgkins forced the following batters to ground out to shortstop. With two outs in the bottom of the second, Collier powered the ball up the middle of the field for a base hit. Thompson then reached on an error, to make runners on first and second. Wheeler pulled through again for the Sharks driving the ball to right field and allowing Collier to come home and Thompson to reach third base. Thompson then stole home on a pass ball to make the score 5-0. The Cadets dug deep and struck out the next batter, leaving a runner stranded on base.

Freshman Christine Clark earned a walk for the Cadets with one out in the top of the third. Clark advanced to second on a wild pitch, which set her up for what would happen next. Balasco hopped on the first pitch and drove it to centerfield to make Clark cross the plate and cut the deficit to 5-1 with only one out. Carey then drilled the ball to shortstop, but couldn’t get past Thompson who caught the bullet and tossed it to third base making a double play to end the inning.  In the bottom of the third, Norwich earned two back to back outs including a strikeout by pitcher Kelsey Buker. It didn’t last long when Murray slapped a double over the third baseman’s head to bring home Gould, who reached on a fielder’s choice. Nalband came up to bat and blasted the ball for a home run, to earn two RBI’s and lift the Sharks lead to 8-1. Buker put an end to the hits by ending the inning with a strikeout.

Senior Whitney Grennon answered back for the Cadets with a long ball that flew way beyond the left fielders head for a homerun to cut the gap 8-2.  Hodgkins fought back by striking out the next two batters. Then Buker hit a ball to a hole in centerfield but Murray made a shoestring catch for the third out. The Cadet’s defense was flawless in the bottom of the fourth, only allowing a single by Colligan.

With two outs in the top of the fifth, Norwich’s freshman Brittany Ramsay rocketed the ball to the track, but was held to a ground rule double as the ball went out of play. Carey followed right behind her with a double to center, earning the RBI and bringing the score to 8-3. The Sharks then brought in Collier to close and quickly earned the final out, with ground out to Collier. Murray led off the bottom of the fifth for Simmons with another single up the middle, followed by Collier who reached on an error. With runners on first and second with one out, Thompson hit a double to bring across Murray. Wheeler then hit a single to move the runners over and load the bases. But the Cadets came back getting the next two outs at the plate with the bases loaded.

Simmons retaliated in the top of the sixth by allowing no hits or runners on base. Gould led off for the Sharks earning a walk, but Cadets got the next batter with an infield fly out. Next, Nalband earned a walk to put runners on first and second. Norwich quickly got the second out by a pop out to second. However, the Sharks continued their two out streak when Thompson got up to the plate and drove the ball up the middle to bring home both Gould and Nalband to end the game. Simmons defeated the Cadets with a final score of 12-3.

Simmons moves up to 6-2 in the conference and will play Friday in a conference game against Pine Manor at 3pm.

Norwich falls to 0-6 in the conference and will venture back to Boston to play against Emmanuel in a double header on Wednesday at 6:00pm.