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Western New England Splits with Norwich & Bowdoin on Final Day in Florida

Western New England Splits with Norwich & Bowdoin on Final Day in Florida

WINTER GARDEN, Fla. (March 17, 2016) - The Western New England University softball team capped its season-opening ten-game trip in central Florida today by splitting a pair of contests against Norwich University and Bowdoin College at the Foundation Academy.

The Golden Bears snapped their four-game skid with a 7-4 victory over the Cadets in the opener, before falling to the Polar Bears by an 11-5 score in the finale. Western New England will head back north with a 3-7 record through ten games.

Western New England 7, Norwich 4
Junior outfielder Katie Wood (Westport, Mass.) fueled the Golden Bear offense in the early morning contest, going 2-for-4 with a double and four RBI, while freshman Emilie Baldwin (Florence, Mass.) reached base three times with a single and two walks, and also drove in a run. Junior shortstop Gabby Lavinio (Dalton, Mass.) recorded a team-high three hits, and senior Heather Fecteau (Biddeford, Maine) went 1-for-4 with an RBI double.

Senior Heidi Grieger (Hyde Park, N.Y.) earned the win in the circle after lasting four innings and allowing just one run on five hits, while junior Samantha DiGiovanni (Shirley, N.Y.) picked up her first save of the season in relief.

Senior Taylor Morris (Haverhill, Mass.) led Norwich, going 3-for-4 at the plate with one RBI and one run scored. Sophomore Kassy Kazimierczak (Adams, Mass.) and freshman Mallori Cesario (Bradenton, Fla.) added two hits each, while senior Angie Hershberger (Felton, Calif.) doubled and drove in two runs.

Fecteau staked the Golden Bears to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first with an RBI double to left field, and Baldwin followed three batters later with a two-out single up the middle, scoring Fecteau from third.

Norwich got one run back in the bottom half of the inning on Morris' RBI single, but Western New England stretched its lead to four (5-1) with three runs in the top of the second. Wood drove in a pair with a double to left center, and sophomore Lindsay Williams (Coventry, Conn.) came in to score later in the frame on a Norwich error.

The Golden Bears added some insurance in the fifth, opening up a 7-1 lead on Wood's two-run single, which plated junior Corianna DeLisi (Tuxedo, N.Y.) and senior Tara Cabral (Kingston, Mass.). Norwich made the game interesting by scoring three runs in the bottom of the sixth, but DiGiovanni closed the door on the Cadets with a perfect seventh inning.

Bowdoin 11, Western New England 5
The Golden Bears fell victim to a strong offensive performance by Bowdoin in their second game of the day, as the Polar Bears compiled 16 hits and posted three multi-run innings.

The top four batters in Western New England's lineup combined for five hits and three RBI, led by Lavinio's 2-for-4 effort with one RBI and one run out of the leadoff spot. Grieger went 2-for-3 at the plate and also walked, while DeLisi doubled, walked, and drove in one run.

Bowdoin was led by sophomore Jordan Gowdy (Weatogue, Conn.), who went 3-for-5 with four RBI. Senior Katie Gately (Rehoboth, Mass.) and freshman Samantha Valdivia (North Hills, Calif.) were also key offensive contributors with three hits and one RBI each.

The Polar Bears opened the scoring with three runs in the top of the second on RBI singles by Gowdy and junior Emily Griffin (Tucson, Ariz.), and a sacrifice fly by sophomore Lauren O'Shea (West Roxbury, Mass.).

Western New England answered with two runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning, as DeLisi drew a bases loaded walk and Lavinio recorded an RBI groundout, but Bowdoin plated four more runs in the third and one in the fourth to claim an 8-2 advantage.

The Golden Bears pulled back to within three (8-5) following Williams' two run double in the fourth and sophomore Jenn Luba's (Plymouth, Conn.) RBI groundout the following inning, but would get no closer, as the Polar Bears tacked on three more runs in the seventh to put the game out of reach.

Western New England returns to action next Thursday at 3 p.m., when the team opens the home portion of its schedule against Smith College at Golden Bear Softball Park. Head coach Lori Mayhew needs just two victories to reach 500 for her career.