CHESTNUT HILL, MA - Wheelock College swept past Southern Vermont College with a pair of one-run New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) softball victories on Sunday, 3-2 and 9-8, at Pine Manor College's softball field. The Wildcats snapped a six-game losing streak in improving to 4-8 overall and 2-4 in the league, while the Mountaineers are now 0-22 and 0-10.
Wheelock, which moved to 4-0 in the all-time series during the teams' first meeting since 2009, received a complete-game effort in the opener from senior Nicole Zina, who yielded one earned run while striking out one. Classmate Sarah Novak had a hit and an RBI, while junior Sarah Negron added a knock. Sophomore Katelyn Boyd was the hard-luck loser for Southern Vermont, as she did not allow an earned run while yielding just two hits, striking out four and walking none. Freshmen Jessica Eldridge and Sara Simonetti each had a pair of hits for the Mountaineers, who left 10 on base, while junior Alyssa Davis scored both runs.
Zina escaped a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam unscathed in the second inning, and right fielder Novak's running catch into shallow right center highlighted the third frame before Wheelock broke through in the home half. Sophomore Ashley Quan reached on a leadoff error, moved up on junior Adriana Perry's (Holbrook, MA/South Shore Charter Public School) sacrifice and came around home on an infield error.
Novak keyed a two-run fourth, as her two-out RBI single plated senior Nicole Rapsis to make it 3-0. However, Davis doubled in the sixth and scored on freshman Heather Kilventon's ensuing single, and senior Tish Hall (Washington, DC/Calvin Coolidge) plated another run in the seventh. With two on and one out, Zina induced a fielder's choice grounder to sophomore third baseman Sara Buscemi before fanning the final batter herself.
Wheelock rallied from a 3-0 deficit for victory in game two, as junior Nicole Perullo went 3-for-4 with two runs and a double while picking up the win, allowing four earned runs, striking out four and walking none. Negron drove in two and scored twice, while Buscemi and Perry also had two runs. Rapsis drove in a pair. Boyd yielded just two earned runs for the visitors while striking out five and walking two. Eldridge was 3-for-4 with two RBI, Kilventon went 3-for-4 with two runs, Davis had two hits and two runs, while junior Brittany Stark was 2-for-3.
The visitors plated a trio of runs in the top of the opening frame, with Eldridge and Stark providing RBI, before Wheelock knotted the contest with three unearned runs in the bottom portion. With runners at the corners, Buscemi and Negron executed a double steal, with Buscemi scoring, before Rapsis and sophomore Kim Perault plated runs.
The Wildcats scored five more times in the second, with Negron's two-run single the big blow, but the Mountaineers edged to within 8-7 by scoring four runs in the third. Buscemi's RBI triple in the third gave Wheelock an insurance run, but Eldridge's RBI groundout in the fourth plated what proved to be the final run of the game.
From her spot at shortstop, Perault snared a line drive with runners at second and third and no one out in the fifth and flipped to Zina at third base for a double play, thwarting a Southern Vermont threat, and the visitors had the tying run on second with two down in the seventh before interference by the on-deck batter led to the final out.
Wheelock continues an eight-game homestand on Tuesday when it hosts Eastern Nazarene College for a pair of non-conference contests. The twinbill begins at 3 p.m.