Game 1 Statistics
EAST BOSTON, Mass. -- The University of New England chalked up 26 hits over 12 innings to triumph over Suffolk University with scores of 4-2 and 14-5 (5 innings) during a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) softball doubleheader on Friday (Apr. 7) at East Boston Park.

Winners of three in-a-row, the Nor'easters (6-16) level off at 3-3 in league play. UNE will visit Bowdoin College for its second-to-last non-conference twinbill on Wednesday, before resuming its CCC slate next weekend.

Makenzy Herron led all players with six hits on the afternoon, and factored in the scoring on seven runs for the visitors. Abby Miner and Becca Dumont contributed four hits apiece, while rookie pitchers Kara MacDonald and Mia Micucci didn't allow any earned runs on the way to wins in the circle.

MacDonald fanned six in GAME 1 (UNE 4-2), against six hits and two walks. The Nor'easters trailed, 1-0, after two innings, but pulled even in the top of the 3rd on a two-out RBI-double from Kenzie Bessette.

Then in the 5th, UNE gave MacDonald a lead to work with, plating a pair (3-1). Dumont led off with a hit and soon scored on a play stemming from a hit by Herron. Herron later scored the first of her two runs when Abby Walsh singled on the infield. Both sides added unearned runs in the 7th.

Miner had two of the hits off Rams pitcher Ava Brandow, who struck out five and walked four while conceding one earned run in a losing effort.

All nine batters in the UNE lineup recorded hits during GAME 2 (UNE 14-5), as the squad totaled 19 in between the 15 outs. Herron opened the scoring with an infield single, and an RBI-double off the bat of Grace Tutt plated Herron for a 2-0 lead in the 1st frame. Tutt went 3-for-4 in the outing.

Suffolk (3-14, 2-4 CCC) countered with five runs on six hits in the bottom of the inning, highlighted by a one-out three-run homer by Delaney Doidge. Brandow scored on the play, after the first of her three singles.

Herron (RBI) and Miner (2 RBI) bounced right back for UNE to tie things at 5-5 in the 2nd. The Nor'easters then sent the full lineup to the dish in the 3rd and added four runs (9-5); singles by Dumont, Herron, and Miner all drove in runs, as did a groundout by Bessette. The hosts managed to escape further damage on a line-out into a double-play with the bases loaded.

The teams combined to leave five aboard without any scoring in the 4th. The bags were again full for UNE, until a line-out double-play, and then Micucci issued back-to-back strikeouts to strand three Rams.

The Nor'easters put the game away in the 5th, amassing seven hits for another five runs. Herron started with a double and scored with the aid of an error on the play. Emma Koenig added a two-run double, before Dumont and Bessette supplied the last two.

Herron went 4-for-5 at the plate, marking the second time in as many years that she has had four hits in a contest -- a season-high for a UNE individual, both times. Additionally, Herron was the only Nor'easter with a three-hit game in 2021.

Dumont matched Tutt's 3-for-4, and Walsh and Koenig joined Miner with two hits each. Both Lindsay Joyal and Jamie DuPont had a hit, two walks, and touched home plate twice.

Micucci wound up going four innings of shutout relief to pick up her first pitching decision, striking out two and scattering six hits and two walks.

Ashlyn Conley took the loss in the circle for Suffolk.