For Immediate Release- April 27, 2002 Contact - Scott Dietz 508-286-376 Sports Information Director 2002 NEWMAC SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT Springfield Defeats Host Wheaton, 4-2 in Semifinal Round NORTON, MA- Junior Alisson Gerrish (Plymouth, MA/Cardinal Spellman) belted a pair of home runs and Springfield fended off three rally attempts in the final three innings, leading the fifth-seeded Pride to a 4-2 victory over host Wheaton in the first semifinal round contest of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament at Clark Field. The Lyons will face the loser of the Clark/Coast Guard contest at 2:00 p.m. this afternoon, while Springfield plays the winner at 4:00 p.m. The Pride's Brianne Pearson (Brockton, MA/Cardinal Spellman) began the contest with a walk, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and then scored on a two-run opposite field homer by Gerrish to give Springfield an early 2-0 advantage. Wheaton cut the lead in half in the bottom of the frame, as junior Rachael Powers (Quincy, MA/North Quincy) recorded an RBI double to left field. In the top half of the third, Gerrish shattered the Springfield single-season all-time hit record with her second blast of the day, extending the Pride advantage to 3-1. Springfield added a run in the fifth, thanks to Pearson's one-out bloop triple to shallow right. Junior Jill Roach (So. Hadley, MA/So. Hadley) then plated Pearson with a single. Wheaton was unable to take advantage of several scoring opportunities in the final three frames, as the Lyons stranded seven baserunners, including a no-out bases loaded in the sixth and seventh innings. In the sixth, Pearson forced two groundouts to second base and a fly out to center to leave the inning unscathed. Wheaton again put forth a rally attempt in the seventh, loading the bags for the second straight frame. Powers pushed home the second run, but that's all the scoring the Lyons would see as the Pride forced an out at the plate, followed by an uncharacteristic 2-3-8-2 putout at home. Springfield captured the win on a groundout to the shortstop. 2002 NEWMAC SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT Game 1: Springfield 4, Wheaton 2 SCORING 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E Springfield (19-20) 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 4 5 2 Wheaton (25-7) 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 10 0 Springfield: Brianne Pearson (14-12) and Missy Edwards Wheaton: Jackie Demling (16-4) and Katie Boyle 2B: Wheaton- Rachael Powers, Amanda Dow-Allen; Springfield- Danielle Lachance 3B: Springfield- Brianne Pearson Multiple Hitters: Wheaton- Maren Schrader 2, Rachael Powers 2, Amanda Dow-Allen 2; Springfield- Alisson Gerrish 2 |