Wheaton College (MA)

NEWPORT, R.I. -- A double and a home run from junior center fielder Ella Molinari (Grafton, Mass.) lifted the Wheaton College (Mass.) softball team to a 5-4 victory over host Salve Regina University in game one of Saturday's New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference doubleheader in Newport.

Wheaton improved to 16-14 overall and 6-9 in the NEWMAC with the win, while the Seahawks fell to 3-30 overall and 0-17 in conference play. 

Molinari jump started the Wheaton offense as she finished 2-4 with a home run, while first year Julia Miller (Cheshire, Conn.) plated two runs on two hits to lead the Lyons. First years Lexi Falcioni (North Branford, Conn.) and Mady Bryan (Halifax, Mass.) knocked in the other two runs for Wheaton. Junior starting pitcher Sofia De La Rosa (Middle Village, N.Y.) and senior reliever Brittany Dost (Centereach, N.Y.) split the pitching duties as the former finished with a winning decision and the latter earned a save. 

Junior Emily Cronin (Coventry, R.I.) led the Salve Regina offense as she finished 2-4 with an RBI and two runs. Junior Emma Plourde (Stratham, N.H.) also finished 2-4 with an RBI, while first year Taylor Ferraiolo (Madison, Conn.) added an RBI with a productive ground out. Senior Caroline Peterson (Halifax, Mass.) pitched the entire contest and fell to 1-15 on the season with the losing decision.

The game passed through the first two innings as the base paths stayed almost completely clean. Junior Taylor Barry (Hadley, Mass.) was the only base runner for either team as she beat out a bunt in the top of the first, but was stranded at first as the inning ended. De La Rosa imposed herself over the Salve bats as she struck out three and faced the minimum in the opening pair of frames. 

Molinari came out swinging in the top of the third as she took the first pitch of the frame over the wall in left center field for her second long ball in as many days and a 1-0 Lyons' lead. Barry got to first base for the second straight at-bat after an error, and Bryan knocked her home with a single past the shortstop. Bryan came around to score as well after she advanced on a wild pitch and came home on a Falcioni sacrifice fly. Miller cleared the bases with a single, adding two RBI to the inning to make it 5-0 for Wheaton.

De La Rosa pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the third without a run, and again avoided damage after a Plourde double led off the bottom of the fourth. Salve Regina got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth, with an RBI ground out from Ferraiolo to start the scoring. Cronin doubled to drive in another run, and Plourde brought her in with a single to center field off of Dost to make it 5-3 for Wheaton. 

Wheaton failed to plate another run for the remainder of the game, but Dost cruised through the bottom of the sixth to keep the lead intact. Plourde added a run with a ground out gone awry after a throwing error allowed Cronin to touch home again. Dost induced a ground out with two outs and two runners in scoring position to escape a threatening jam and clinch a 5-4 win for Wheaton. 

The Lyons and Seahawks will face off again later today in game two of the NEWMAC doubleheader.