Wheaton College (MA)

NORTON, Mass. - The Wheaton College (Mass.) softball team needed only five innings to complete the sweep against visiting Emerson College in game two of Saturday's New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference doubleheader on Clark Softball Field as it came away with a 9-1 win over the Lions.

The Lyons finished the regular season with a 21-15 overall record and 11-9 in the NEWMAC, while Emerson fell to 7-22 overall and 5-15. Wheaton earned the number six seed in the upcoming NEWMAC Softball Championship Tournament and will host seventh-seeded United States Coast Guard Academy on Monday, May 4 at 4:00 p.m. in the play-in game of the tournament. The Lions' season comes to an end with the loss.

Wheaton was led by first year Lexi Falcioni (North Branford, Conn.) after a career day at the plate with a double and triple for four RBI. Junior Taylor Barry (Hadley, Mass.) had two hits and an RBI, while first year Julia Miller (Cheshire, Conn.) finished with a pair of hits and a run scored. Senior Maggie Caron (Boxford, Mass.) drove in a run to join senior Amber Arcand (Millville, Mass.), who also had an RBI and a hit. Junior starting pitcher Sofia De La Rosa (Middle Village, N.Y.) was dominant through all five innings of the contest as she allowed seven hits and struck out five batters with one run against her. 

Senior Kayla Nuehlen (Wolcott, Conn.) had the lone RBI for Emerson as she poked home a run with a long hit to left field. First year Aislinn McCoy (Barrington, R.I.) had a double to join sophomore Kari Sorensen (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) in the extra-base hits club. First year Valentina Luciano (New City, N.Y.) had a pair of hits as well. Junior starting pitcher Kate Regan (Manchester, Conn.) tossed four and two-thirds innings on nine hits and four earned runs with no strikeouts.

Wheaton scored in the first inning for the second time on Saturday. This time it was Falcioni who came up huge in the bottom of the first frame. After Arcand reached on an error, Barry blasted a double and junior Emma Boucher (Derry, N.H.) reached on a walk, Falcioni came up with a triple off of the wall in left-center field to clear the bases in one stroke. Caron added her only RBI of the game immediately after with a ground out that scored Falcioni to put Wheaton ahead by four. 

Nuehlin answered with an RBI single in the top of the second inning, but De La Rosa pitched around the damage to keep Wheaton's lead at 4-1. Wheaton made it 6-1 in the bottom of the third thanks to a lead off double from Blankenheim-Brown. A Boucher double moved her over to third, and Falcioni reached on an error as both runs scored. 

Miller got the offense rolling in the bottom of the fourth as she smacked a double to right center. Barry brought her home with a single up the middle to make it 7-1 for the hosts. De La Rosa worked through the Emerson bats in order in the top of the fifth to quickly flip the field and put Wheaton back in the batter's box.

Falcioni kick started the offense's engine for the third time on the day as she reached base with a double. Senior Brittany Dost (Centereach, N.Y.) reached base on an error which scored Falcioni, putting Wheaton on the brink of ending the game early. Arcand delivered the finishing blow with a single up the middle that scored Dost, giving Wheaton the early win. A 9-1 final score completed the doubleheader sweep and clinched a playoff berth for the Lyons.