PRIDE OPEN HOME SLATE WITH SWEEP OF GATORS

WESTON, Mass. – A pair of freshmen helped lead Regis College to a doubleheader sweep of Pine Manor College by scores of 5-2 and 6-5 on Wednesday night in non-conference action in Weston, Mass. The Pride improves to 3-9 on the year, while Pine Manor falls to 0-2.

Katie Cuozzo (Lynn, Mass.) picked up her first collegiate win for the Pride in game one, tossing seven innings and scattering eight hits and two earned runs while striking out nine. In game two, Raegan Heck (Phillipston, Mass.) hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs and the bases loaded to give the Pride the double-dip sweep.

Pine Manor struck first in the opening game as Samantha Jones (Springfield, Mass.) led off the top off the third on a double down the leftfield line and advanced to third on the throw back into the infield. Jones came around to score later in the inning on an RBI groundout by Sybil Lynch (Hoboken, N.J.) that gave the Gators an early 1-0 lead.

Pine Manor's Tia Nelson (Rockport, Mass.) kept the Pride off the board for the first four innings, allowing only four hits. The Pride finally entered the scoring column in the fifth inning as Kelsey Heath (Lowell, Mass.) reached on an error by the centerfielder and then advanced to second when her throw to first went wide of its mark. Heath stole third and came around to score when Kirbie Garvey (Littleton, Mass.) hit a groundball to shortstop and forced a bad throw, reaching on the error, and tying the score at 1-1. Kara Donovan (Woburn, Mass.) picked up her first RBI of the day to drive in Garvey with a single to rightfield that gave the Pride its first lead at 2-1.

The Gators knotted the score at 2-2 as Chardonai Rose (Fairfield, Calif.) tripled to rightfield and scored on an RBI double by Macayla Kirylo (Pawtucket, R.I.) with one out in the sixth. Cuozzo struck out the next batter she faced, but Tia Nelson reached on an infield single to put runners on the corners with two outs. During the next PMC at bat, Nelson broke for second trying to draw a throw from the Pride's Shannon Bradish (Lawrence, Mass.). Bradish came up firing, but right to Regis second baseman Michaela NeJaime (Sandisfield, Mass.), who threw the ball back home in time to nail Kirylo and end the inning.

Haley Fountain led off the home half of the sixth with a walk, and pinch runner Laurie DeMars (Maynard, Mass.) came around to score on an RBI single to rightfield from Jill Bruning (Medford, Mass.) that gave the Pride a 3-2 lead. Bruning later scored on an RBI double from Heath, and the Pride added their last run of the day on a Garvey RBI single through the left side. With a 5-2 lead, Cuozzo got through the seventh inning unscathed and held on for her first collegiate win.

Kara Donovan and Jill Bruning combined to go 4-for-7 at the plate in the opening game with a pair of RBI. Kelsey Heath went 1-for-3 with an RBI and a pair of runs scored. The Gators were led by 2-for-3 days from Kirylo and Tia Nelson. Nelson fell to 0-1 on the year, allowing five runs (three earned) on eight hits in six innings of work.

Regis scored first in game two as Kirbie Garvey led off the bottom of the first with a triple and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Haley Fountain (Warren, Mass.). Pine Manor tied it up in the top of the third with an RBI walk from Kaylyn Delgado (Worcester, Mass.), but the Pride tacked on another run in their half of the third when Garvey tripled over the rightfielder's head for the second time and scored when the second baseman could not handle the cutoff throw, giving the Pride a 2-1 lead.

In the bottom of the fourth, Regis grabbed a short-lived 3-1 advantage as Jill Bruning doubled to the gap in right-center, scoring Alyssa McKinnon (Raynham, Mass.) who had singled to lead off the inning. Pine Manor answered in the top of the fifth as Kirylo singled to shortstop and drove in Sybil Lynch to make it a one run game.

With their backs against the wall, Pine Manor tied the game in the top of the seventh as Sybil Lynch led off the inning with a single to short and advanced to second on a bad throw. Chardonai Rose doubled over the rightfielder's head to plate Lynch and knot the score at 3-3. Macayla Kirylo followed with an RBI double of her own to score Rose and give the Gators their first lead of the game. After two quick outs, Pine Manor added one more run as Kirylo scored on an RBI single by Betzy Maysonet-Urbina (Boston, Mass.) and took a 5-3 lead headed into the bottom of the seventh.

After a groundout to open the inning, Kelsey Heath doubled down the line in left to put a runner in scoring position with one out. A dropped pop-up by the Gators allowed Heath to advance to third and Garvey to reach first. Garvey later stole second, and after a walk to Haley Fountain that loaded the bases, senior tri-captain Kara Donovan stepped to the plate and ripped a two-RBI single through the left side that scored Heath and Garvey and tied the score at 5-5.

After a wild pitch allowed the runners to move up a base, McKinnon drew a walk to load the bases. Jill Bruning hit a groundball to first and Delgado came home with the throw to nail the runner and preserve the 5-5 tie. Rookie catcher Raegan Heck stepped to the plate and lined an 0-2 offering to centerfield, where it dropped and allowed Kara Donovan to score the winning run.

Kirbie Garvey led the Pride attack with two triples in a 2-for-3 day with a walk, an RBI, and three runs scored. Seven other Pride batters recorded at least one hit in the win. Haley Fountain (2-4) picked up the victory, allowing four runs (two earned) on seven hits in 4.1 innings with eight strikeouts.

Macayla Kirylo went 3-for-4 at the dish, while Sybil Lynch went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored. Tia Nelson dropped her second decision of the day, allowing nine hits and six runs (three earned) over 6.2 innings.

The Pride get right back to action on Thursday afternoon when Regis hosts Becker College in a New England Collegiate Conference doubleheader scheduled for 3:00 p.m. Pine Manor looks for its first win of the year in a doubleheader at Anna Maria College on Thursday afternoon at 3:30 p.m.