FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The 2016 GNAC Softball Tournament continued on Friday with second-round action in both Boston and West Hartford, Conn. Fifth-seeded Emmanuel College, which earned a must-win victory in Tuesday's first round, won a pair of games, blanking fourth-seeded Norwich University, 5-0, before topping top seed and host Suffolk University, 9-7, at Rotch Field in Boston, Mass.
Second-seeded University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) hosted Friday's other two second-round contests, as third-seeded Johnson & Wales University defeated seventh-seeded Albertus Magnus College, 6-1. However, in the second contest at the site between host USJ and JWU, the game was suspended due to rain in the top of the fourth innings with JWU up, 2-1. That game will be resumed on Saturday (10:00 AM) at Roberto Clemente Field in Boston, with the loser set to face Norwich in an elimination game to follow at Clemente.
Elsewhere at East Boston Memorial Park in Boston on Saturday, four games will take place, beginning with host Suffolk and Albertus Magnus squaring off in an elimination game. Emmanuel will then face the USJ/JWU winner at 12:30 PM in a non-elimination game, followed by elimination games at 3:00 PM and 5:30 PM. For the complete schedule, please see below.
#5 EMMANUEL 5, #4 NORWICH 0
BOSTON – A third-inning scoring spree led Emmanuel to a 5-0 victory over Norwich in the second round of the 2016 GNAC Tournament Friday afternoon at Rotch Field.
Senior shortstop Catherine Davis got the scoring started for the Saints when she drove in junior right fielder Erin Walshto put Emmanuel on the board, 1-0.
Kerrianne Vulpis went on to score on a passed ball to put the Saints up 2-0 before freshman Ashley Skey knocked a three-run homer to left field to score Casey Sheehan and Davis and push the lead to five.
Junior pitcher Jill Kilkoyne (PICTURED) improved to 17-6 on the season with the win while pitcher Emily Oliver took the loss for Norwich to fall to 6-8 on the season.
Norwich will face the loser of No. 2 Univ. of St. Joseph (Conn.) and No. 3 Johnson & Wales University at 12:30 p.m. while Emmanuel will the winner of game six between Johnson & Wales and USJ, which was suspended due to weather Friday morning in the top of the fourth inning with JWU up 2-1. The game will resume tomorrow morning at Roberto Clemente Field.
Courtesy of Suffolk Athletics Communications.
#3 JWU 6, #7 ALBERTUS MAGNUS 1
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Three runs in the second inning and two more in the sixth propelled the Johnson & Wales University softball team to a 5-1 win over Albertus Magnus in the GNAC Tournament. The Wildcats were leading St. Joseph (CT), 2-1, in the top of the fourth when rain postponed the game until Saturday.
Records:
Albertus Magnus: 22-1
Johnson & Wales: 28-10
JWU Statistical Leaders:
Brenna DuPerry: 2-4, 1 Run, 1 RBI
Angelica Reyes; 2-2, 1 Run, 1 RBI
Kristen Solari 2-3
Of Note:
The contest between the Wildcats and Blue Jays will resume at 10 a.m. Freshman Brenna DuPerry (Cranston, RI) ripped a triple to left field and scored on a wild pitch to give JWU the 2-1 lead. Immediately after the conclusion of that game, the loser will play Norwich while the winner will travel to East Boston to join the rest of the tournament and take on Emmanuel.
With the victory against Albertus Magnus, Johnson & Wales tied a school record with its 28th victory of the season. The 2014 & 2012 editions also won 28 games.
A throwing error helped Albertus Magnus score in the top of the second before the Wildcats rallied for three runs. The big blow was a two-run single by third basemanMeghan Gavin (Wallingford, Conn.) to score DuPerry and second baseman Angelica Reyes (Arleta, Calif.), who drove in the first run with single to left field.
Alex Fantasia (Framingham, Mass.) and DuPerry each smacked RBI doubles in the sixth to give pitcher Jennifer Corona (Middle Island, NY) some insurance runs. She threw a complete game to pick up her 17th victory of the season. The right-hander surrendered one unearned run on five hits with four strikeouts.
Seven of the nine JWU batters had at least one hit with eight of the nine reaching base. DuPerry, Reyes, catcher Kristen Solari (Old Bridge, NJ) and first baseman Emily Gorecki (Bremerton, Wash.) all had two hits.
Courtesy of JWU Athletics Communications.
#5 EMMANUEL 9, #1 SUFFOLK 7
BOSTON – Down by four in the bottom of the seventh inning, the No. 1 seed Suffolk softball team scored a pair of back-to-back runs but fell short of a late game comeback, ultimately dropping a 9-7 decision to fifth-seeded Emmanuel in the second round of the 2016 GNAC Tournament Friday afternoon at Rotch Field.
The Saints were coming off a 5-0 win over Norwich in game three of the tournament, played earlier Friday morning. With all of the team's offense coming in the top of the third inning, senior shortstop Catherine Daivs got the scoring started when she drove in junior right fielder Erin Walsh to put Emmanuel on the board, 1-0. Kerrianne Vulpis went on to score on a passed ball to put the Saints up 2-0 before freshman Ashley Skey knocked a three-run homer to left field to push the lead to five.
Against the Rams, Emmanuel took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when Davis tallied another RBI, sending in Vulpis for the game's opening score. Suffolk sophomore Delaney Sylvester answered in the bottom half of the inning, slamming a solo homerun over the fence in left center field to tie the score at one. The Rams took a 3-1 lead in the following inning with both Merry Ball and Devlin Frost scoring on a Saints wild pitch.
Emmanuel's bats weren't done swinging as the Saints strung together five fifth-inning runs, including an Olivia Burgos grand slam, to take the lead, 6-3, and hold onto it for the remainder of the contest.
Suffolk freshman Evelyn Marquis responded with a solo shot in the bottom half of the inning to bring the Rams within two, and Sylvester knocked in freshman Jill Pulek to cut the Saints' lead to one at the end of five.
Emmanuel went on to score three more late-game runs, including a Vulpis homer. Suffolk continued to battle scoring two runs in the bottom of the seventh, but the Saints held on to take home a 9-7 victory.
Courtesy of Suffolk Athletics Communications.
First Round - Tuesday, May 3 (single elimination) | RECAP
Game 1: #5 Emmanuel 5, #8 Mount Ida 4 | BOX
Game 2: #7 Albertus Magnus 1, #6 Saint Joseph's Maine 0 | BOX
Second Round - Friday, May 6 (double-elim begins)
Game 3: #5 Emmanuel 5, #4 Norwich 0 (hosted by #1 Suffolk) | BOX
Game 4: #3 Johnson & Wales 6, #7 Albertus Magnus 1 (hosted by #2 USJ) | BOX
Game 5: #5 Emmanuel 9, #1 Suffolk 7 | BOX
Game 6: #3 Johnson & Wales vs. #2 USJ (JWU leads 2-1, TOP4, suspended)
Semifinals - Saturday, May 7 (hosted by #1 Suffolk)
Game 6: #3 Johnson & Wales vs. #2 USJ resumes - 10AM @ Roberto Clemente Field
Game 7: #7 Albertus Magnus vs. #1 Suffolk (elim game) - 10AM @ East Boston Mem. Park
Game 8: #4 Norwich vs. Game 6 loser (elim game) - Begins 20 min after completion of G6 @ Roberto Clemente Field
Game 9: #5 Emmanuel vs. Game 6 winner - 12:30PM @ East Boston Mem. Park
Game 10: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner (elim game) - 3PM @ East Boston Mem. Park
Game 11: Game 9 loser vs. Game 10 winner (elim game) - 5:30 @ East Boston Mem. Park
Championship - Sunday, May 8 (hosted by #1 Suffolk, East Boston Memorial Park)
Game 12: Game 11 winner vs. Game 9 winner - 10AM
Game 13: if necessary - 12:00PM