Season Comes to Close for Softball with Heartbreaking Loss to Newbury

WESTON, Mass. - The Regis (Mass.) softball team suffered a heartbreaking 12-8 loss to Newbury College in an elimination game at the New England Collegiate Conference Tournament on Saturday afternoon.

With the loss, the Pride is eliminated from the NECC Tournament and ends its season with a record of 16-13. Newbury advances forward in the NECC Tournament and moves to 21-16 on the season.

Regis jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the bottom of the fifth thanks to an RBI double from freshman first baseman Ellery Rasmussen, and looked primed to move to the next round of the tournament, but the Nighthawks refused to go down without a fight. 

Doubles from Mallory Stefan (Thornton, Colo.), Elizabeth Kia (Kea'au, Hawaii) and Lindsey Clark (Venice, Fla.) in the top of the sixth paced the Nighthawks to a three-run inning in which they cut into the Pride's lead and made the score 7-5 Pride.

An Allison Caloggero (Meford, Mass.) RBI single in the bottom of the sixth stretched the lead to 8-5, but the lead would unfortunately not last.

After Clark drove in a run with a one-out single, sophomore Alina Milauskas (Elkridge, Md.) hit a two-run double to tie the game at 8-8 in the top of the eighth. The Nighthawks were not done however, as Noelle Sass (Randolph, Mass.) and Naomi Ricciotti (Phoenix, Ariz.) each added two-run hits at the conclusion in the inning to give the top-seed a 12-8 lead.

Senior Jenna Casello (Westborough, Mass.) walked to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning, but was only able to advance as far as second base, as the Pride suffered the loss.

Regis freshman pitcher Madi McLellan (Fremont, N.H.) struggled on the afternoon, after a strong start to the day. She allowed 10 earned runs on 17 hits on the day to pick up the loss, striking out four Nighthawks. Milauskas picked up the win for the Nighthawks in the circle on the day, allowing one earned run on four hits in three relief innings.

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