Chasse's Gem Guides Softball To Playoff Upset

Sophomore Sarah Chasse (Salem, Mass.) fired a complete game one-hitter in the opening round of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Softball Tournament as the number eight seed Suffolk University upset top-seeded Norwich University, 4-1 on Wednesday afternoon.

Chasse threw all seven innings striking out five and allowed just one single in the bottom of the fourth inning to guide Suffolk to victory.

The Rams put together an 11-hit attack in the game highlighted by a 3-for-4 effort by junior Erin McAndrews (Marblehead, Mass.), who also scored a pair of runs on the day.

Norwich scored the game's first run in the second inning as senior Noel Byers (Iron Mountain, Mich.) came across on an infield error.

Suffolk would take the lead in the fifth as they scored two times. Chasse helped her own cause as she led the inning off with a single. She would come around to score on a double by McAndrews, her second of the day. As the throw went in to try to get Chasse at home, McAndrews would advance to third, setting her up to score the go ahead run when freshman Julia Ludvigsen (Dedham, Mass.) plated her with a sacrifice fly.

In the seventh, the Rams would tack on two more runs when freshman Meredith Ball (Nahant, Mass.) knocked in a pair of insurance runs with a single down the left field line.

Sophomore Nicole Rosa (Wallingford, Conn.) also collected three hits on the day for the Rams.

The victory improves Chasse to an 8-8 mark on the year on the mound, while Suffolk improves to 14-23.

Sophomore Kelly Travers (Whitman, Mass.) had the lone hit of the day for the Cadets. She bounced a ball back up the middle to lead off the fourth that ricocheted off of Chasse's glove and beat the play out. The loss ends Norwich's season as they round out the season with a 25-9 record.

With the victory Suffolk will now advance into this weekend's four team double elimination tournament as they hope to claim the program's first GNAC Conference Championship and first NCAA Tournament appearance.

It was a wild Wednesday in the GNAC as both the number one and two seeds fell. Suffolk knocks off the top seed Norwich, while seventh seed Rivier University took down number two Emerson College.

Suffolk will now take on St. Joseph's College of Maine, the fourth seed on Friday afternoon.