NEW LONDON, CT- St. Joseph's College kicked off conference play with a pair of hard-fought wins over Mitchell College on Saturday afternoon in New London, Connecticut. The Monks edged out a 4-3 victory in Game 1 before outlasting the Mariners 14-11 in Game 2.
Game 1: St. Joseph's 4, Mitchell 3
Strong pitching and timely hitting lifted the Monks in the opener. After two scoreless innings, the Monks got on the board in the third when Charlotte Cloutier (Lewiston, ME) singled and later scored on a base hit from Sylvia Foley (Scarborough, ME). Sadie Tirrell (Naples, ME) added another run, coming home on Chantelle Bouchard's (Biddeford, ME) sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
Mitchell answered in the fifth on an RBI single, cutting the lead to 2-1. The teams traded runs in the sixth—Madison Pelletier (New Gloucester, ME) ripped an RBI double to bring in pinch-runner Clara Christiansen (Franklin, ME) for the Monks, while Mitchell tied things up at 3-3 on a clutch two-run single.
In the seventh, Tirrell singled, advanced on a passed ball, and scored the go-ahead run on Foley's sacrifice fly. Rylee Page (Somersworth, NH), who entered in relief in the sixth, shut the door with a perfect seventh to secure her second win of the season.
Game 2: St. Joseph's 14, Mitchell 11
The second game turned into an offensive showdown, with both teams combining for 25 runs and 30 hits in a wild back-and-forth battle.
Mitchell jumped ahead early, erupting for seven runs in the second inning, taking advantage of two wild pitches and key hits from Kaylee Drago and Gemma Landry. Down 7-2, the Monks began chipping away, scoring twice in the third to close the gap to 7-4.
The momentum shifted in the fourth when the Monks exploded for seven runs to take the lead. Makayla Quintal (Gorham, ME), Sylvia Foley, and Charlotte Cloutier all delivered clutch hits, with Cloutier's bases-clearing double capping off the rally.
Mitchell fought back, plating three runs in the bottom of the fourth and adding another in the sixth to make it an 11-10 game. But the Monks had one last push, tacking on three insurance runs in the seventh, highlighted by Foley's RBI double and Bouchard's run-scoring single.
Madison Pelletier closed out the win in dramatic fashion, escaping a bases-loaded jam in the seventh to earn her first save. Rylee Page picked up her second win of the day, improving to 3-0 on the season.
With the sweep, St. Joseph's improves to 5-9 (2-0 GNAC), while Mitchell falls to 5-9 (0-2 GNAC).
NEXT!
The Monks are back in action at the University of Southern Maine on Wednesday afternoon.