Cahill Throws Shutout to Earn Merrimack Split with AIC

4/18/2010 12:00:00 AM

NORTH ANDOVER, MA – Picking up a 5-0 win behind senior pitcher Atlee Cahill (Gloucester, MA), the Merrimack College softball team (11-18) snapped a seven game skid Sunday afternoon on Volpe Field.

The Warriors—now 7-9 in Northeast-10 play—dropped game one of the doubleheader, 8-2, despite allowing just seven hits.  American International moved to 16-20 and 9-9 in Conference play.

In addition to Cahill's stout pitching through 7.0 innings in the nightcap, junior Kristen Lemay (Shrewsbury, MA) blasted a grand slam to put Merrimack on top 5-0 in the second inning, proving sufficient for the senior Cahill to close out her first complete game of the season.

Improving to 4-6 on the afternoon, Cahill only got better as the game went on.  Over the final three innings, she held the Yellow Jackets hitless and struck out four of the 26 batters she faced.

In game one, Merrimack fell behind 2-0 in the first inning, but got out of multiple jams early as the Yellow Jackets had 10 base-runners stranded in the opener.

Lemay got the Warriors on the board in the third with an RBI double and junior Kara Melillo (North Andover, MA) cut the American International lead to one with a single up the middle to score sophomore Monique Gosselin (Lawrence, MA) who got on base with her 11^th double of the season.

With only a single hit in the last three innings, the Warriors could not produce anymore offense as the Yellow Jackets continued to roll with five scores in the final two frames to pick up the 8-2 win.

The Warriors are back in action on Tuesday against Assumption College at 3:00pm for a doubleheader on Volpe Field.  The game had previously been scheduled for Saturday, April 17^th but was postponed due to inclement weather.