Softball Storms Past Norwichin Doubleheader, 8-0(5), 8-5

NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Suffolk softball team picked up a pair of GNAC games as the Rams swept Norwich at the NU Softball Field.  

Suffolk (18-6, 9-3 GNAC) scored a run in every inning in the opener en route to an 8-0 mercy-rule win in five innings before breaking open a 5-all tie in the top of the seventh of Game 2 to earn the season sweep with an 8-5 victory.  

Norwich (9-15, 9-5 GNAC) committed eight errors defensively on the day and only managed nine hits as it fell back to fourth place in the GNAC standings with the losses. 

The Cadets mustered just four hits in Game 1, while Suffolk scored a run in every inning and hit NU starting pitcher Emily Oliver hard. The Rams tagged Oliver for seven runs, three earned and nine hits in 3.1 innings to fall to 4-6 on the season. 

Devlin Frost and Lindsay Pagano each had two RBIs to lead the Suffolk offense in the opener. 

In Game 2, Norwich jumped out to a 2-0 lead with runs in the bottom of the first and the third innings. Seniors Taylor Morris and Angie Hershberger notched RBIs with Morris scoring Naomi Rinaldo on a sacrifice fly and Hershberger scoring Sarah Perry with a RBI hit. 

Suffolk's Delaney Sylvester knotted the game back up at 2-2 with one swing of the bat with a home run to right center field. The Rams scored three more times in the top of the fifth inning with Frost notching a two-run single and Sylvester bringing another run in with a fielder's choice. 

The Cadets cut into the lead in the bottom of the fifth as Oliver walked with the bases loaded to score Perry. 

Morris tied the game up in the bottom of the sixth with a two-RBI ground rule double that she laced into the right center field gap to score Payton Warner and Rinaldo. 

However, errors proved to be Norwich's undoing in the top of the seventh inning as Meredith Ball led off the inning with a single up the middle. Karina Miranda then popped up a bunt that glanced off a diving Perry's glove. 

NU picked up the ball and overthrew the shortstop trying to catch Ball off at second base and then the ball rolled all the way to the outfield fence allowing Ball and Miranda to score to give Suffolk a 7-5 lead. The Rams tacked on another run and Norwich was unable to muster anything in the bottom of the seventh to fall to 5-3 at home this year. 

Suffolk continues on its eventful week tomorrow as it takes on Simmons at East Boston Memorial Park in the Sharks' home contest starting at 3:30 p.m.