Newbury Downs Softball, 7-5

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Becker (10-26)	0	0	2	0	3	0	0	5	7	4
Newbury (9-24)	3	0	0	1	0	3	X	7	12	2
@ Chestnut Hill, MA | Pine Manor College

Pitching
Win: Rebecca Roach (0-0) - Newbury
Loss: Megan Cordon (0-0) - Becker

Becker Batting
2B: Megan Bolduc; Shawna Drown 2
3B: none
HR: Megan Cordon

Newbury Batting
2B: Nicole Cuneo
3B: Theresa Hylinski
HR: none

full stats

The Newbury College softball team completed a halted game against New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) opponent Becker College, Tuesday afternoon, with a 7-5 victory.  Junior right-hander Rebecca Roach (Charlton, Mass.) earned her eighth win of the season and improves to 6-5 against NECC foes after allowing just four earned runs in seven innings  while striking out nine Hawks.

Picking up where they left off, in the bottom of the first, on April 12^th with junior centerfielder Theresa Hylinski (Stratford, Conn.) on first, the Nighthawks jumped out in front early, scoring three runs. After first year third baseman Julia Flamenco (Copiague, N.Y.) lined a single into left, senior backstop Ariel Ross (Gales Ferry, Conn.) reached on a throwing error by the catcher, allowing Hylinski and Flamenco to score the game's first two runs.  Two batters later after Ross advanced to third on ground ball to first year right hander Megan Cordon (Watertown, Conn.),senior first baseman Teressa Farioli (East Longmeadow, Mass.) drove in her classmate for the third run of the frame.

With a three-run lead, Roach kept the Hawks off balance, stranding first year center Jessica Bruchu (Hardwick, Vt.) at first after leading off the second with a walk.

But Becker began to chip away at the deficit, getting two back in the top of the third with some help from a Nighthawk miscue. Leading off the inning, first year Megan Bolduc (Dover, N.H.) drove a double deep into the left-centerfield gap then came into score two batters later on an RBI double down the right field line off the bat of first year Shawna Drown (Watertown, Tenn.). After third baseman Talan Barron (Methuen, Mass.) popped out to shortstop for the second out of the inning, Cordon kept the inning alive reaching on an error in centerfield that plated Drown.

The Nighthawks grabbed an insurance run in the home half of the fourth. Sophomore shortstop Katie Haney (Winchendon, Mass.) led-off the inning lining a double back where it came from then got herself into scoring position with her fourth steal of the season. With no one out and Newbury threatening for more, Cordon appeared as if she might get out of the inning unscathed. After getting first year second baseman Nicole Cuneo (Norton, Mass.) to ground out to shortstop, Hawk first baseman Melissa Rhodes (Mendon, Mass.) caught Haney trying to advance to third on the play for the second out.

However, junior right fielder Audrey Spataro (El Paso, Texas) kept the inning alive for the Nighthawks lining a base-hit to the opposite field to bring the line-up back around to the top. Following a single by Hylinski, Flamenco came through lining a two-out single between third and shortstop to bring home Spataro and give Newbury a two-run cushion.

In the next half inning, Becker got the run right back and then some. Junior backstop Larissa Paula (Lynn, Mass.) lined a one-out single up the middle before Drown moved her up 90 feet into score position with a ground-ball to right side of the infield for the second out of the frame. Barron kept the inning going registering her conference leading, 31^st RBI of the season, driving in Paula with another base-hit into center. Cordon capped off a three run inning launching her third homerun of the year to straight away centerfield. The high, towering fly ball wasted no time in getting out of the yard and when it finally came down the Hawks had a one-run, 5-4 advantage.

Still trailing by one heading into the sixth inning, Roach lit a fire under the Nighthawks, striking out the side in the top of the frame that woke up the bats in the home half.

Leading off the bottom of the sixth, Cuneo hit an opposite field double that dropped just inside the leftfield line. Squaring around to  bunt, Spataro was safe on an error by the first baseman then swiped second to get herself into scoring position. After Hylinski loaded the bases reaching on an infield single, Flamenco drove in her second run of the game lifting a high fly ball to right to plate Cuneo with the game's tying run. Moments later, the Nighthawks grabbed the lead when Spataro scampered home, on the same play, on a throwing error by the catcher as Hylinski went to third. Newbury padded their lead when Hylinski crossed dish on a ground-out to shortstop off the bat of Ross.

Although the Hawks threatened in the top of the seventh with Barron reaching on a two-out base-hit into right, Roach shut the door squeezing a hard liner off the bat of her Becker counterpart, Cordon, to earn her eighth victory of the season and improve to 6-5 in the conference.