KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- Sophomore right fielder Jillian Rohon (Southington, Conn.) blasted a three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to give the Wheaton College (Mass.) softball team an 8-5 come-back victory over Emmanuel College (Mass.) this afternoon at Fortune Road Sportsplex in Kissimmee, Fla. as part of The Spring Games.

The Lyons opened their season with the win and are now 1-0, while the Saints fall to 4-6.

Wheaton entered the bottom of the seventh facing a 5-4 deficit before junior catcher Jill Ceddia (Hopkinton, Mass.) brought home the tying run with a two-out single up the middle. Emmanuel got the first two outs of the inning before Lyon first year designated player Amber Arcand (Millville, Mass.) singled to right and sophomore shortstop Lindsey Oliveira (Westport, Mass.) drew a walk, before Ceddia plated Arcand with a base knock. Rohon followed Ceddia with a home run over the center field fence to give Wheaton the win.

Oliveira was 2-3 with a homer, two RBI and a pair of runs scored, while Ceddia finished the day going 3-4 with a pair of runs scored. Junior third base Amanda Bogardus (Saco, Maine) collected two hits in three trips, while driving in a run and scoring a run and sophomore center fielder Juliette Zito (Woodbridge, Conn.) was 2-4 on the day as one of five Lyons to collect multiple hits to contribute to a 14-6 hitting advantage for Wheaton. Junior starting pitcher Sofia Knopf (Norton, Mass.) picked up the win, working seven compete innings and allowing five runs (two earned) on six hits to go with seven strikeouts to improve to 1-0 on the season.

Sophomore center fielder Taylor Chelak (Westborough, Mass.) finished the game going 2-for-4 with a pair of singles and runs scored for Emmanuel, while sophomore second base Amanda Penney (Warwick, R.I.) knocked in a pair of runs with a single. Senior relief pitcher Tianna Dawe (Lynn, Mass.) suffered the loss for the Saints after giving up five runs on five hits and a walk in an inning and two-thirds of relief. 

Emmanuel jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead pushing three runs across in the top of the first with just one hit, a leadoff single by Chelak. The Saints played some small ball with three consecutive bunts including a squeeze from senior Maegan Amsler (Hanover, Mass.) that drove in Chelak for the only earned run of the inning before scoring a pair on unearned runs to account for the early 3-0 score. 

Sophomore Amanda Penney (Warwick, R.I.) opened the game up in the fifth with a two-run single up the middle that took a tough hop over the Wheaton second base to increase the EC lead to 5-0. 

The Lyons looked for a big inning in the bottom half of the fifth, loading the bases with three consecutive singles from Bogardus, first year first base Lily Platt (Hallowell, Maine) and Zito. Junior second base Bryanna Agan (Averill Park, N.Y.) smacked a hard-hit ball to second that Penney was able to knock down and go to first for the second out of the inning. Bogardus came in to score on the play, but were limited to just the one run after Wheaton was caught in a run-down to end the threat.

Oliveira pulled the Lyons to within a pair of runs with a two-run shot to left center in the sixth to pull them to within 5-3. Bogardus made it a one-run game with an RBI blooper to right to bring Wheaton to within 5-4 after six innings of play.

The Lyons return to action later today when they take on Carroll College at 4:30 p.m., while Emmanuel is idle until March 21 when it plays host to Emerson College at Clemente Field for a non-conference twinbill slated for a 5:00 p.m. start.