Softball Wins Early, Falls Late in Split with Nichols College

Dudley, Mass. (April 8, 2023) – The Golden Bears headed to Nichols College on Saturday for a second straight day of CCC play. After splitting with Endicott yesterday, they split with Nichols, winning the first 6-4 and dropping the second 4-2.

Game 1: Western New England 6, Nichols 4 

Megan Beebe and Olivia Pedro were called to step into the circle for each team during the first game. Nichols would get one early on Beebe as Bailey Littlefield hit a sacrifice fly ball to right field and drove Allie Brown home. That gave the Bison a 1-0 lead after one inning of play. After a scoreless second inning with Pedro and Beebe dealing, the Golden Bears finally got on the board. After hitting her first home run yesterday, Taylor Keegan brought a run home with a single to the first base side that she beat out. Ferriouolo was able to score and tie the game at one. Then, Paige Baca would ground out to the shortstop; however, Russo got a jump on it and got home. 2-1 Golden Bears. Finally, Dina DiBlasio did as she had been doing all year and smoked an RBI double down the left field line, which brought Keegan home and gave the Golden Bears a 3-1 lead after three innings of play. 

The fourth was another quick one with no runs. However, the fifth was all Nichols. Ava Slavinsky singled to right field and brought Allie Brown through home plate to tie the game at three runs a piece. Allie Silliman would proceed to single up the middle and score another. That put Nichols up 4-3 after five innings in game number one. With two outs in the top of the sixth inning, Pedro let a pitch get away, and Ines Baez Flores, who was pinch running for Madison Mason, got home to tie the game up at four runs per side. The bottom of the sixth inning was quiet, but the top of the seventh saw fireworks from WNE. Grace Hemstock got to first on an error, which brought Paige Baca home. That gave WNE the one-run lead. Then, Mason sent a ball to right field, which Nichols got underneath, but was too far out to get DiBlasio, who tagged up and scored the sixth and final run for the Golden Bears. Riley Kane finished it up for the Golden Bears, and they won 6-4 in game number one.

Inside The Diamond:

• Riley Kane pitched three innings in relief and earned the win. Kane faced 12 batters and only let up two hits.
• Dina DiBlasio went 3-4 with two doubles and an RBI. 
• Cori Rizzo went 2-3 from the dish and slapped a double. 
• Ava Slavinsky went 3-4 for the Bison with two RBIs.
• The Golden Bears won the game by a final score of 6-4.

Game 2: Nichols 4, Western New England 2

Game number two saw Ava Blanchard and Laney Martin both get the nod to pitch. Both pitchers kept the other team off the scoreboard in the first two innings. The third saw Blanchard keep Nichols at zero, but a Paige Baca single to left field scored Taylor Keegan and put WNE up 1-0. The Bison answered harshly in the top of the fourth inning. Mackenzie Jackson smacked a single into right field, which scored Littlefield. Chloe Steiniger then singled up the middle and scored Silliman for run number two. Nichols finished the inning with an Allie Brown ground out to first, which advanced Erin Gour home. The score after four innings of play was 3-1. Riley Kane came into game two in the fifth inning and shut down the Bison. However, the Golden Bears could not get any runs on the board against Martin. The Bison tacked on another run in the sixth inning for good measure. That was caused by Allie Brown singling to right field and driving home Steiniger. Chelsea Indyk entered in the seventh inning for the save and would only let up one run to help the Bison win 4-2. Madison Mason scored the final run on a Maggie Marquardt sacrifice fly ball to center.

Inside The Diamond:

• Laney Martin got the win in game two with five strikeouts.
• Alex Ferriouolo went 2-3 in game two with a pair of singles. 
• Bailey Littlefield, Chloe Steiniger, and Allie Silliman all went 2-3 for the Bison, with Steiniger getting an RBI. 
• The final score saw Nichols get by WNE 4-2.

Up Next: 

Western New England will welcome Westfield State for a doubleheader on Wednesday, April 12. Those games will be played at 3:00 PM and 5:00 PM.

Nichols will stay home for their next matchup, taking on Clark University in a doubleheader at 2:30 PM and 4:30 PM on Tuesday, April 11.