Game 1 Statistics
Game 2 Statistics
Photos

BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Wentworth Institute of Technology gained early leads on both sides of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) softball doubleheader and secured results of 6-2 and 8-4 versus the University of New England on Sunday afternoon (Apr. 21) at Nor'easter Diamond.

The Leopards (19-13, 7-3 CCC) received a day-high five hits from Kaitlin Pettenger, who also scored three runs across the two contests. Katelin Howe added four hits, while Jess Rowe and Kelsey Medalia each plated three runs.

Becca Dumont tallied four hits for the Nor'easters (8-22, 4-8), and Emma Michaud contributed three. Hannah Lappin had a hit in both games and totaled three runs scored.

Julie Schriver went the distance in GAME 1 (WIT 6-2) to earn the win for the visitors, striking out four. She recorded 13 outs before UNE managed a hit. 

Run support came from Rowe in the top of the 1st inning, cracking a two-run homer over the fence in left. It was 3-0 in the 3rd when hits by Kyla Igawa, Rowe and Medalia combined for a run.

Lappin put the first hit on the board for the Nor'easters with one out in the 5th, and a two-out single by Dumont set the stage for Michaud to line a double into the left-center gap and cut the margin in half (4-2).

The hosts had another runner in scoring position with one away in the 6th, but could not reduce the deficit. Then a pair of miscues in the 7th aided two runs that padded the WIT cushion.

Dumont picked up her second hit in the 7th for UNE, which had seven batters reach base safely. In the circle, Mo Kinsella yielded five earned runs and did not issue a free pass.

The progression of scoring was almost identical through five frames in GAME 2 (WIT 8-4). Pettenger drilled the first pitch of the match into the left-center gap for a triple, and scored on the ensuing pitch as Igawa grounded out. Medalia notched an RBI-double later in the stanza for a 2-0 lead. An infield single by Igawa with two gone in the 2nd was enough to plate another run, and Igawa came through again with two outs in the 4th, singling to make it 4-0.

UNE got two back to split the difference in the 5th (4-2). A leadoff double by Emma Koenig, before a single and steal by Lappin, arranged two in scoring position. A 10-pitch groundout by pinch hitter Fiona Casey pushed one run across and Dumont followed with an RBI-single; the Nor'easters loaded up the bases after the second out, but weren't able to trim the margin any more.

In the 6th for the Leopards, singles from Brianna Miller and Howe and a double by Pettenger made it 5-2. Igawa increased her RBI total to four with a 10-pitch at-bat and sacrifice fly on the next play, before Rowe did the same to set the spread at five (7-2).

UNE responded in the bottom of the inning with Koenig's second hit, an error, and a two-run double by Dumont with two away. It marked the second three-RBI outing of the year for the senior.

Howe's third hit of the game with two outs in the 7th added an insurance run by Schriver, who entered to pitch the final two innings and picked up the save, and recorded a hit at the plate.

A two-out double from Elise Connor kept the Nor'easters alive, momentarily, in their last at-bat. Overall, Michaud joined Dumont and Koenig with a couple of hits in the contest. In her first start of the season, Cat Higgins took the setback.

Rowe claimed the pitching decision for Wentworth, striking out three while scattering five hits and a pair of walks over five innings. Miller touched home three times, behind two hits and a walk, to help the offense.

Next up: UNE will head to Saint Joseph's College for a non-conference twinbill on Wednesday.