NORTON, Mass. -- First year right fielder Emme Conley (Riverside, R.I.) was 3-3 with two doubles and two runs batted in to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) softball team over visiting Springfield College, 6-4, this afternoon in game one of a New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference doubleheader at the Clark Softball Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass. The Lyons improve to 20-15 overall and 9-8 in league play, while the Pride dip to 26-11 and 11-6.

Wheaton celebrated and honored its players in the final regular season home game of their respective careers for the Lyons. Katelyn Barton (Andover, N.H.), Emma Candelaria (Hampton Bays, N.Y.), Tristan Keller (Plymouth, N.H.), Lilly Laganiere (Rochester, N.H.), Lexi Lovell (Dighton, Mass.), Francesca Pande (West Greenwich, R.I.) and Sarah Pritchard (Malta, N.Y.) were all recognized for their contributions.

Sophomore third base Lindsey Oliveira (Westport, Mass.) also contributed for Wheaton, going 2-4 with a run scored, while first year center fielder Juliette Zito (Woodbridge, Conn.) doubled and knocked in a run. Pritchard improved to 7-6 after allowing four runs on 10 hits and a walk to go with a pair of strikeouts in the starting pitching assignment. Sophomore reliever Sofia Knopf (Norton, Mass.) recorded her third save of the season with two innings of one-hit scoreless relief that saw her post a strikeout and a walk. 

Sophomore third base Katie Leacoma (Walpole, Mass.) was also 3-3 for the Pride, while sophomore second base Alli Olsen (Ridgewood, N.J.) and senior right fielder Mackenzie Doyle (Glocester, R.I.) both had two hits in four at-bats. Senior starting pitcher Gillian Kane (New Canaan, Conn.) (14-5) suffered the loss after giving up six runs (two earned) on 11 hits and a walk and also struck out four batters.

Each team banged out 11 hits apiece in game one, but Wheaton never trailed after scoring the first two runs of the day in the bottom of the first inning. Zito cracked a leadoff double to left center, moved to third on a bunt and scored on an RBI single up the middle from Barton to give the Lyons a 1-0 edge. Keller later knocked in the team's second run with a run-scoring single to center field.

Springfield cut the deficit in half with a run in the third. Leacoma laced a triple down the left field line to open the frame and scored when Doyle ripped a single off and outstretched Oliveira at third base. Wheaton answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 5-1 advantage. Oliveira opened the inning with a single to left, first year Erica Piercey (North Branford, Conn.) reached on an error and Keller drew a walk to load the bases with no outs. Pritchard served a single to left field to bring home Oliveira to make it 3-1. Conley came through later in the inning with a two-out double to plate Pritchard and Keller for a four-run lead.

The Pride chipped away with a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth to pull within a run at 5-4. Senior center fielder Ava Fernandez (Cedar Grove, N.J.) cranked her first collegiate home run over the left field fence to lead off the fourth inning and make it 5-2. Springfield led off the fifth with an extra base knock as well with a double off the bat of Olsen, before graduate student first base Sam Witmer (Drexel Hill, Pa.) singled her home with a shot up the middle. Senior left fielder Sara Mulligan (Cheshire, Conn.) smacked a two-out single through the left side later in the frame to make it a one-run game for Springfield. 

The Lyons added an important insurance run in the bottom of the inning when Pande reached on an error, was lifted for first year pinch-runner Grace DiBacco (Selkirk, N.Y.), who went to third ahead of a Conley double to the left-center gap and scored on a Zito ground out to make it 6-4.