Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

MILTON, Mass. -- Sophomore Marie Mantelli (Thompson, Conn.) broke a 4-all tie in game one with a three-run homer in the top of the seventh inning to help the University of New England to an 8-4 victory over Curry College in The Commonwealth Coast Conference softball action Saturday afternoon at D. Forbes Will Field. The Colonels took the second game of the doubleheader, 4-0.

With one out in the inning, classmate Ashley Gott (Winterport, Maine) singled and moved to second on an illegal pitch. Senior Jenn Waldecker (Hooksett, N.H.) walked, setting the stage for Mantelli's lone hit of the game. The Nor'easters would add one more in the frame to provide the final margin.

Curry scored twice with two outs in the last half of the sixth to knot things up (4-4). Four consecutive singles got it done, as senior Kristen Jackman (Stoughton, Mass.) and junior Samantha Velezis (Waterbury, Conn.) picked up the RBIs. For each, it was their second hit of the contest.

UNE put two on the board in the first, capitalizing on three Curry errors. The visitors increased the lead to 3-0 in the top of the fifth, only to see the Colonels get two run back in the bottom of the stanza.

Mantelli finished the game with five runs batted in. Gott and senior Angie Damon (Scarborough, Maine) each recorded two hits for the Nor'easters, while junior pitcher Amber Zablowsky (Rochester, Mass.) gave up three earned runs to get the win.

Curry junior Amanda Peters (East Bridgewater, Mass.) threw an eight-hit shutout in game two, and helped herself out with a two RBI double to right field that put the hosts in front in the fourth.

Jackman kicked off the Curry sixth with her fourth hit of the day, and, following two walks and a pair of strikeouts, junior Joneiha Veiga (Brockton, Mass.) drove home a two with a single to center to double the cushion.

Sophomore Erin Lyons (Salem, N.H.) gave up just five hits and two earned runs in a losing effort for UNE, while classmate Maegen Johnson (Standish, Maine) and first-year Casey Brigham (New London, Conn.) each tallied two hits for the offense.

Both teams are headed to the TCCC tournament, which begins Monday with a couple of play-in games. The second-seeded Nor'easters (24-12, 17-7 TCCC) will host action in the double-elimination phase that starts Tuesday at 2:30 p.m., playing in the second of two games that afternoon.

The Colonels (18-19, 13-11 TCCC) will host Nichols College Monday in the in No. 6/No. 7 matchup of the single elimination phase, with the right to travel to Biddeford the next day and face third-seeded Western New England College.


Updated April 25, 9:00 a.m.