Erin Lyons threw a pair of strong games for UNE, allowing just one earned run over 15 innings to lower her ERA to 0.62
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Senior pitcher Sarah Jakiela (Meriden, Conn.) allowed eight hits over 15 innings, as the Salve Regina University Seahawks won the first game of a Commonwealth Coast Conference doubleheader, 2-1, and tied the second in a game called after eight innings due to darkness with the score 3-3.
In the fourth inning of game one, first-year Kristen Parolise (Hamden, Conn.) had a two-out single up the middle to give the Seahawks a 1-0 lead.
Salve Regina would add a much-needed insurance run in the top of the seventh when Jakiela led off the inning by reaching on an error. She was lifted for pinch-runner Deanna Ciccarelli (Peramus, N.J.), who would later score on an RBI single from senior Emily Rodenhiser (Danvers, Mass.).
Trailing 2-0 in their final at-bat, the Nor'easters plated a run on a Salve infield error, but Jakiela induced a groundout to end the game.
Game two saw the Nor'easters jump out to a 2-0 lead in the first on a two-run homer to center field by first-year Marie Mantelli (Thompson, Conn.), her third dinger of the season.
The Seahawks cut their deficit in half when senior Katie Vieira (Dartmouth, Mass.) homered to left to lead off the third. The visitors tied the game in the top of the seventh, taking advantage of a UNE error to start the frame. Senior Caitlin Poplawski (New Britain, Conn.) drove in the tying run with an infield out.
The contest went to the international tie-breaker in the eighth, with each team pushing across a run in their respective at-bat. Parolise had a run-scoring double for Salve's run, and the Nor'easters tied the game in the home half of the frame when sophomore Stephanie Podolski (Coventry, Conn.) scored on a passed ball.
Parolise had two hits in each game for the Seahawks, while Jakiela recorded 10 strikeouts in her 15 innings of work.
First-year pitcher Erin Lyons (Salem, N.H.) went the distance in each game for UNE. She was a tough-luck loser in the opener, surrendering five hits and no earned runs. For the day, she walked just one walk and fanned 11.
Salve Regina (11-10-1, 5-2-1 TCCC) returns to action Friday with a road doubleheader at Eastern Nazarene College.
The Nor'easters (10-3-1, 5-2-1) host the University of Southern Maine tomorrow in a non-conference doubleheader beginning at 3:30 p.m.
