Ravens rally for a come-from-behind, nine-inning victory over
NYIT in game two on Sunday
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Megan Bird had two hits on the day and made two outstanding
diving catches down the line to help propel the Ravens to victory
over NYIT in game two.
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CLERMONT, Fla. (March 18,
2012) -- The Franklin Pierce University softball team
showed tremendous resiliency on Sunday by rebounding from a tough
11-3 loss to Merrimack to pull out a nine-inning, 7-6 triumph over
NYIT in the second contest at the National Training Center in
Clermont, Fla. With the win, Franklin Pierce improved to a solid
3-2 on the young season as the Ravens continued to add to one of
their best starts in program history.
In the day's second game, Franklin
Pierce and NYIT found themselves tied 5-5 following seven innings
of play. The Bears, however, quickly pushed a run across in the top
of the eighth inning to take a slim 6-5 margin and it seemed
Franklin Pierce could be headed for another tough setback.
The Ravens, though, didn't fold and
rallied in the bottom half of the frame with a run to send the game
to a ninth inning. Franklin Pierce pushed its run across when
senior outfielder Jayme Bilafer (Concord, Mass.)
singled home pinch runner Nicole Pratt (Gardner,
Mass.).
Freshman pitcher Jessica
Colson (Feeding Hills, Mass.) held NYIT at bay in the top
of the ninth, thus setting the stage for Franklin Pierce's
thrilling rally in the bottom of the frame. Franklin Pierce loaded
the bases with one out as sophomore Jamie Wiley (Cape
Vincent, N.Y.) was on third, senior Rachel Baxter
(Cumberland, R.I.) on second and freshman Karissa
Forzese (Methuen, Mass.) on first. Freshman Laura
Eidam (Stamford, Conn.) stepped to the plate and ripped a
hard shot towards the NYIT shortstop, who fought off the charging
ball to field it and throw onto home for a potential force out. The
throw, though, wasn't in time as Wiley was able to avoid the tag
and send the Ravens to victory.
Colson (1-0) pitched the final five
innings for the Ravens and yielded just two runs to earn the
victory, which was the first of her collegiate career.
The Ravens found themselves
trailing 4-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth, but they
answered with four runs in the stanza to grab a one-run advantage.
Franklin Pierce got four-consecutive hits from junior Megan
Bird (Laconia, N.H.), Bilafer, freshman Alicia
Dean (Danvers, Mass.) and Wiley. Wiley drove in a pair on
her base hit and scored the frame's final run on a suicide squeeze
from junior Jessica Furtado (Taunton, Mass.). Dean
collected the Ravens other RBI in the inning.
NYIT tied the contest at 5-5 in the
sixth to set up the final frantic innings which resulted in the
Franklin Pierce victory.
Bird played an important role at
the dish for the Ravens, but also came up huge in the field as she
made two outstanding sliding catches down the line to hold the
Bears from pushing any more runs across.
Franklin Pierce hung tough with
Merrimack in the early going of the day's first game before falling
by an eight-run margin. Dean doubled home a run in the third inning
to knot the score at 1-1, but the Warriors blew it open in the
bottom of the frame to pull away for the victory.
Senior Meaghan O'Neal
(Littleton, Mass.) plated Pratt with an RBI single in the
fourth and Forzese followed later in the stanza with an RBI single,
scoring Bird on the play.
Freshman hurler Kaitlyn
Johnson (New Boston, N.H.) got the start in the circle and
went three innings, but suffered the loss to fall to 2-1 on the
season. Sunday's game versus Merrimack was a non-Northeast-10
Conference contest for both teams.
Franklin Pierce is off Monday, but
returns to action on Tuesday when the Ravens take on Hillsdale at 1
p.m. and Augustana (S.D.) at 5 p.m.
For more information on Franklin
Pierce softball, please visit the team's page at
athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the program even further,
please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube
(www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter
(www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook
(www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens).
