WELLESLEY, MA – No. 1 Lesley University (26-10) pitcher Jennifer Dorval (Franklin, NH/Franklin) held No. 4 Elms College (15-18) to three hits through the first six innings and was backed by a Nicole Mercurio (Wakefield, MA/Wakefield) two-run homer in the Lynx 6-1 win over the Blazers in New England Collegiate Conference Softball Tournament play Friday morning.

            Infielders Sarah Apgar (Andover, NJ/Lenape) and Jenna Fralick (Woburn, MA/Woburn) each went 2-for-3 with a run scored, and Dorval struck out four in her four-hitter, improving to 15-2.

            Emily Mangiaratti (Amherst, MA/Amherst) started the scoring in the first, as she singled, was sacrificed to second and scored on a Gabrielle Brixey (Coalinga, CA/West Hills CC) fly ball the landed inside the right field line. In the third, Allison Fountain (Cheshire, CT/Cheshire) reached on a one-out base hit to center, advanced on a passed ball and a Blazers error, scoring on a Mercurio sac fly down the line in left.

            The Lynx powered up to double the lead an inning later and picked up two more on a fifth-inning longball. Fralick doubled home Apgar, and Mangiaratti tripled home Fralick to go ahead 4-0. Brixey reached on an error for the second time to lead off the fifth and was promptly homered home on a Mercurio laser over the left-center fence to go ahead 6-0.

            Dorval, meanwhile, shook off a pair of early Blazers base hits to hold Elms hitless through the middle innings, with a seventh-inning Ally Witaszek (Agwam, MA/Agwam) RBI double that scored Amanda Alvarado (Springfield, MA/Sabis) serving as the sophomore's only blemish of note.  

            Courtney Hampton (Enfield, CT/Enrico Feremi) allowed six runs, four earned, in falling to 11-10 for the Blazers.

            Lesley advances to Game 7, taking on the winner of noon's battle between No. 3 Daniel Webster and No. 2 Mitchell, with the loser playing Elms at 2:00.