CLERMONT, FL – Lesley University improved to 2-3 on the season with a 9-5 win over Sage College Wednesday at the Dot Richardson National Training Center.
Ashley Cunningham (Mountain Top, PA/Crestwood) went 2-for-2 with a double, a run and an RBI, Alyson Durben (Stow, MA/Nashoba) went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, and Gabrielle Brixey (Coalinga, CA/West Hills CC) scored two runs as the Lynx outlasted the Gators for Cassandra Knox first win of 2011.
Knox (Sea Cliff, NY/North Shore) struck out six, overcoming seven walks to allowed only three earned runs in the complete game as she improved to 1-2 on the year.
Kelsey Newburg (New Britain, CT/New Britain) walked and stole second to lead off the game for the Gators, but the range of Lesley second base Jessica Guevara (Nantucket, MA/Nantucket) kept the leadoff walk from costing the Lynx. A diving play in the hole robbed Ashley Eberle of an RBI base hit, and with two outs, Guevara ranged up the middle to retire Hillary Faas, keeping the game scoreless.
Lesley then cashed in on a leadoff walk issued from Sage starter Katie Karkoski to Emily Mangiaratti (Amherst, MA/Amherst). After a Guevara sacrifice bunt, Mangiaratti came around to score from second on a Durben single to center. Designated player Jennifer Dorval (Franklin, NH/Franklin) lined a one-hop single that bounced off Karkowki's leg and caromed into left field, chasing the pitcher from the game and scoring Brixey to make it a 2-0 game.
New Gators pitcher Rachel Smith (Valatie, NY/Ichabod Crane) was touched by Cunningham for a double to center that plated Durben. A bases loaded walk to Jenna Fralick (Woburn, MA/Woburn) scored Dorval before Mangiaratti reached for the second time in the inning, lacing a single to center that plated Cunningham. In all, Lesley sent 11 batters to the plate, scoring five runs on five hits and three walks to take a 5-0 lead after one.
Sage got a run back in the second, as Tiffany Bezio (Whitehall, NY/Whitehall) reached on a Fralick error and Smith helped her own cause with an RBI single to center.
Two more Lynx errors chipped a run off the team's lead in the third, as the Gators scored one run and left the bases loaded without the benefit of a hit. Eberle walked advanced to second on Guevara's first error of the season, moving to third and home on passed balls to make it a 5-3 game. Sarson then ran down Meghan Welcome in a hot box between third and home, and Knox froze Chantel Ceragioli to escape the threat, stranding three Gators on the pond.
The Sage defense returned the favor with an unearned run for the Lynx in the third. After a pair of walks, a grounder from pinch-hitter Maria Nazzaro (North Reading, MA/St. Mary's) bounced through Emily Host's legs, scoring pinch-runner Rian Powers (Portland, ME/Deering) from second to make it a 6-2 game.
The pesky Gators pulled within two on a Host RBI double to the gap in right center that chased home Hillary Faas (East Greenbush, NY/Columbia) and Bezio. Smith picked up her second RBI of the game with a single to left that scored Host, making it a 6-5 game mid-fifth.
After the Lynx grounded into a one-out, bases loaded, inning-ending double play an inning earlier, Lesley took advantage of the same situation in the fifth. Durben's bases loaded chopper to third scored Fralick before Guevara, who also reached via walk, scored on a Smith wild pitch.
It would be one of Smith's last, as she was relieved moments later by Jackie Petteys (Fort Ann, NY/Hartford), who issued a passed ball that scored Brixey before Faas made a sliding catch on a Sarson looping liner to leave three stranded with the Lynx on top 9-5.
Knox settled down to retire the side in order in the sixth and seventh, and 9-5 would be the final.
With the win, Lesley improves to 2-3, while Sage falls to 0-4.
