Softball Run Rules Salem State in Five in Home Opener, 9-1

EAST BOSTON – Suffolk softball hit four homers including one grand slam to handle Salem State, 9-1, in game one of a non-conference doubleheader Tuesday at East Boston Memorial Park.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 9 | Salem State 1
RECORDS: Suffolk (8-10) | Salem State (7-7) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk fielding mishaps allowed Salem State to sneak one run on the board in the top of the first.  

The Rams responded in the home half of the innings with back-to-back bombs to center. Catherine Carignan sent ball over the fence first to get the frame underway and Becky Zellin followed suit nearly hitting the same spot. Suffolk's scoring did not stop there as a Vikings error when Julia Mills put the ball into ball let Maddie Southers, who reached on a fielder's choice, come in safely, before Ella Turnbull barreled a grand slam to make it a lopsided, 7-1 score.  

Two innings later Mills rocked a four-bagger and brought Southers in with her to extend the blue-and-gold's edge to 9-1. Southers led off the frame with a double to left. 

Ashlyn Conley came in the fifth to take over for Lily Newhall. The Vikings managed to get a pair of base runners one walk, one error and a base hit. With two outs Conley helped herself as she teamed up with Cynthia Rucinski for a routine ground out for the last out that sealed the mercy-rule decision.  

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Newhall notched the win. She let up one run, unearned, on three hits and one walk with four strikeouts through 4.0 innings. 
• Conley put together a one-hit, one-walk 1.0 inning of relief. 
• Gracie Martineau suffered the setback after giving up seven runs, two earned, on five hits and one walk with one strikeout in 1.2 innings. 
• Katherine Quigley shoved 2.1 innings of relief. She allowed two runs on two hits. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Turnbull produced four RBI on one hit, a homer, and scored one run. 
• Mills brought in three runs behind a 2-for-3 effort that featured one homer. The freshman scored two runs. 
• Carginan and Zellin chipped in identical, one hit, one RBI, one run stat lines. The sophomore and junior both had one jack. 
• Southers supplied two runs and one hit, a double. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk won its fourth straight game against Salem State. 
• The Rams now lead the series 8-1. 
• Suffolk hosted SSU for the first time since April 21, 2016. 
• At home, Suffolk is unbeaten, 3-0, against the Vikings. 
• The run-rule decision is the second in the all-time series between Suffolk and Salem State, first since the first-ever meeting, a 14-5 triumph in Suffolk's favor, April 6, 2015. 
• The Rams are 2-0 in run-rule games against the Vikings. 
• Suffolk had multiple homers in a game for the first time since April 24, 2022 when it logged two jacks in a 6-5 win at Endicott. 
• The three dingers in a game are the most since striking five in a 23-2, five-inning win over Anna Maria, March 31, 2018. 
• Turnbull was the first Ram to knock a grand slam in the Megan Cook era. 
• Turnbull's grand slam is the first for a Suffolk player since Lily O'Neil produced one in a 17-4, five-inning setback to Endicott April 26, 2023. 
• Turnbull had her second homer of the season and of her collegiate career. 
• Turnbull registered a personal-best in RBI (4). 
• Zellin recorded her third home run of the year. 
• Carginan tallied her first home run of the season and third of her collegiate career. 
• Mills had the first homer of her collegiate career. 
• Mills scored a career-high two runs.  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk wraps up the twinbill with the Vikings this afternoon.