NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) softball team boasted six players with multiple runs batted in to fuel a 19-0 victory in game one of a doubleheader against visiting Lesley University this afternoon at the Clark Softball Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass. The game was halted after five innings, due to the eight-run mercy rule.

The Lyons improve to 18-9 on the season, while the Lynx fall to 3-26.

The 19 runs represents the highest total in a game for Wheaton since it scored 20 vs. Smith College on April 6, 2008 and its largest margin of victory since a 23-2 triumph over Edgewood College on March 12, 2000.

Junior third base Amanda Bogardus (Saco, Maine) was 3-4 with two runs batted in and a run scored for the Lyons, while junior catcher Jill Ceddia (Hopkinton, Mass.) and junior shortstop Lindsey Oliveira (Westport, Mass.) were each 2-3 with a double and two runs scored to go with a run scored. Sophomore Juliette Zito (Woodbridge, Mass.) scored four runs and was 2-5 with an RBI and sophomore center fielder Grace DiBacco (Selkirk, N.Y.) was 3-4 with a triple, three runs scored and a run batted in. Junior right-handed starting pitcher Sofia Knopf (Norton, Mass.) tossed four innings of shutout ball and allowed just a hit and a walk to go with six strikeouts to improve to 9-3 on the season. 

Graduate student first base Antonia Kieran (Wilmington, Mass.) was 1-2 to lead Lesley, Sophomore starting pitcher Emma Hodgkins (Raymond, N.H.) suffered the loss, giving up 10 runs (six earned) on seven hits and two walks in one inning of work.

Wheaton scored eight runs in the top of the first in game one and followed that with seven more runs in the second to take a 15-0 lead. The Lyons added three runs in the third and one in the fourth.

Ceddia cranked a two-run double to highlight the first inning for Wheaton, while DiBacco smacked an RBI triple. Junior second base Bryanna Agan (Averill Park, N.Y.) and Oliveira each singled home a run in the frame for the Lyons.

Wheaton scored seven times in the second to take a 15-0 cushion. Oliveira doubled in a run, while Knopf, first year first base Lily Platt (Hallowell, Maine), Bogardus, Zito and first year Maggie Caron (Boxford, Mass.) all stroked run-scoring singles in the inning.

First year Amber Arcand (Millville, Mass.) fueled the Lyons' three-run third with a two-run double, before Wheaton scored its final run on an error in the bottom of the fourth.