Nikki Pratt goes 2-for-2 with a home run and two runs driven in
during game one
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (March 30, 2012) -- The Franklin Pierce
University softball team was swept by No. 22 nationally-ranked
Southern Connecticut State in a Friday doubleheader at Pelz Field
in New Haven, Conn. SCSU won game one by a 6-2 count, while earning
a 10-0 decision in five innings in game two. Franklin Pierce fell
to 8-11 overall and 6-4 in the Northeast-10, while the Owls
improved to 19-3 and 7-1 in league play.
Senior outfielder Nicole
Pratt (Gardner, Mass.) went 2-for-2 with a home run and
both runs driven in for the Ravens in game one, while classmate and
infielder Meaghan O'Neal (Littleton, Mass.) went
3-for-4 at the dish.
Freshman pitcher Kaitlyn
Johnson (New Boston, N.H.) pitched a complete game for the
Ravens, but was saddled with the loss after giving up six runs
(five earned) on eight hits with three strikeouts and two walks in
six innings of action.
Southern Connecticut got to Johnson
with four runs in the bottom of the third to break a scoreless tie,
with the highlight of the inning coming from Brittany Bucko, as she
launched a two-run homer center field. Shawna Mallory, who singled
in the frame's prior at-bat, came around to score on Bucko's shot.
It was the first of two home runs on the day for the SCSU center
fielder.
The Ravens scratched out a run in
the top of the fourth to pull to within three at 4-1. Sophomore
Jamie Wiley (Cape Vincent, N.Y.) walked to lead
off the frame, advanced to second on a single by O'Neal and then
went to third as senior Rachel Baxter (Cumberland,
R.I.) drew a base on balls to load the bases. Pratt
followed and lifted an RBI sacrifice fly to left field, which
allowed Wiley to tag up from third and cross home safely.
The Owls tacked on a pair of runs
in the fifth inning when Alyssa Downs sent a two-run blast over the
wall in left-center field, scoring Kristin Whitley, who reached on
a fielder's choice earlier in the frame.
Pratt answered with a homer of her
own in the sixth (her first of the season), but her solo shot was
the last run the Ravens would get in their attempt at trying to
pull off the come-from-behind victory.
Kelsey Cockrill went the distance
for SCSU in the pitching circle and earned the win to improve to
9-1 on the year. She gave up two runs while scattering seven hits
over seven innings with 10 strikeouts and five walks.
Southern Connecticut State used the
momentum from its game one win to jump all over the Ravens in game
two. The Owls pushed a pair of runs across in the first and scored
four times in both the second and third innings to set the
eight-run rule and cap the game after four-and-a-half innings were
played.
Senior catcher Jamie Verner
(Natick, Mass.) had the Ravens' lone hit in the game as
SCSU pitcher Jayme Larson struck out four with zero walks to pick
up the win and run her record to 9-1.
Junior hurler Rachel Allen
(Hull, Mass.) took to the circle for the Ravens, but
lasted just two innings in suffering the loss. She allowed all 10
runs (only five were earned) on seven hits with two strikeouts and
four walks.
Downs tripled down the right-field
line in the first inning and drove in Nicole Buch to kick-start
SCSU's scoring. Downs came in to score during the inning's
next at-bat as Kate Hoffman stroked an RBI single to right
field.
The Owls plated four runs on three
hits in the second to take a 6-0 advantage. The third inning saw
four more runs for the Owls, including an RBI double from Kristie
Vituli and a three-run homer from Bucko.
Franklin Pierce returns to action
Sunday when the Ravens travel back to Connecticut to face New Haven
in a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.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).
