Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Led by a strong pitching performance by first-year Erin Lyons (Salem, N.H.), the University of New England softball team clinched a home opening-round playoff game with an 8-2 victory over Roger Williams University in the second game of a doubleheader.  

Hawks' pitcher Jackie Doolin (Miller Place, N.Y.) fired her fifth consecutive shutout in the opener to give Roger Williams a 4-0 win.

Lyons carried a shutout into the sixth inning of the nightcap, but the Hawks nicked her for a pair of unearned runs to get on the scoreboard.  Lyons finished with a five-hitter and struck out six to raise her record to 10-5.

UNE would get all the offense it needed in the home half of the first.  Senior Ashley DePasquale (Uxbridge, Mass.) and first-year Ashley Gott (Winterport, Maine) had run-scoring singles, and the Nor'easters plated their other run on a throwing error.

The Nor'easters made it 6-0 in the fifth, thanks in part to an RBI single by senior Lauren Webb (Jericho, Vt.) and a double by DePasquale.

After Roger Williams scored a pair in the top of the sixth on a groundout and UNE error, Maegan Johnson (Standish, Maine) gave the Nor'easters an 8-2 advantage with a two-run single.  

Johnson had two hits and two runs scored to pace the UNE offense, while junior Kerry Burke (Old Saybrook, Conn.) contributed a pair of singles for the Hawks.

Doolin kept the Nor'easter bats quiet in the opener, scattering seven hits and fanning 10.  She issued zero walks in registering her eighth shutout.

Roger Williams took advantage of two UNE errors to break a scoreless tie in the top of the fifth.  The Hawks would plate three more runs in the sixth, once again capitalizing on two Nor'easter miscues.  Junior Samantha Teves (Somerset, Mass.) had a run-scoring single for RWU's lone hit of the inning.

UNE lost despite outhitting the Hawks, 7-4.  Webb and fellow senior Rachel Boutin (Winslow, Maine) had two hits apiece.  Senior Jess Silvio (Beverly, Mass.) pitched well but was tagged with the loss.  She surrendered one earned run in 5 2/3 innings.

Each team is headed to the upcoming The Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship.  Roger Williams (27-15, 17-7 TCCC) will receive an opening-round bye, while UNE (22-12-1, 13-10-1) will host a play-in game Monday versus Nichols College.  Game time will be announced later this evening.