Softball Hosts Saint A's Friday/Saturday, Wraps up Regular Season Sunday at Bentley

Softball Hosts Saint A's Friday/Saturday, Wraps up Regular Season Sunday at Bentley

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Links: Live Stats (Friday / Saturday 1 / Saturday 2 / Sunday) | Follow @MerrimackSB

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – With four games left in the regular season and a playoff spot very much up for grabs, the Merrimack College softball team welcomes Saint Anselm College to campus for games on Friday and Saturday before traveling to Bentley for a single game on Sunday to round out the regular season.

The Basics
 Date/Time: Friday-Sunday, April 24-26, 2015 | 4pm/12pm/12pm
Records: Merrimack (16-23, 9-12 NE-10) | Saint Anselm (20-9, 11-7 NE-10) | Bentley (11-15, 8-9 NE-10)
Location: Warrior Diamond/Bentley Field | North Andover/Easton, Mass.

NE-10 Championship Outlook
 Top-four in division qualify; divisional records shown

  1. SNHU 15-3
  2. Stonehill 11-7 Won H2H vs. STA
  3. St. Anselm 11-7
  4. Assumption 9-9
  5. Merrimack 8-9 Won H2H vs. BU, FPU, SMC; Lost H2H vs. AC, STO
  6. Bentley 8-9

#3 hosts #4 in single-elimination First Round Tuesday, 4/30

Saturday is Senior Day!
 In between the two games of Saturday's doubleheader, Merrimack will honor its senior graduating seniors: Becca Armstrong, Valerie Bauer, Lindsay Gibbs, Stephanie Lapierre, Jennifer Post and Courtney Ulak. The group helped the Warriors reach the NE-10 Championship for the first time in three years on the way to the team's first playoff win in that same span last spring and also average a 3.40 GPA between the six of them.

Last Time Out:
 Merrimack dropped its series finale with No. 24 Southern New Hampshire on Wednesday, 5-1.

The Penmen grabbed a two-run lead after Holly Eicher cracked a two-run home run to left center field in the top of the second, and then Sarah Lavallee snuck a line drove homer over the wall in left to increase the lead to 3-0 in the fourth.

Sophomore Haley Currie answered with her second run of the season in the home half of the frame to make it a two-run game, but the Penmen added an unearned run in the top of the fifth to go back up by three (4-1).

The Warriors had two runners on in the fifth after a walk and a single and brought the tying run to the plate, but Maloof managed to get out of the jam. SNHU added another unearned run in the top of the seventh to extend the lead to four before Maloof worked around a single and a walk in the bottom of the seventh to seal the victory.

Click here for Wednesday's recap!

The Hawks:

  • Sit in third place in the division standings with only three to play against Merrimack; a win would guarantee them a playoff spot
  • Pitcher Tayla Trask is among the league's best in the circle; she ranks first in ERA (1.35), third in wins (10) and fourth in strikeouts (98)
  • Infielder Julie Leclair is tied for sixth in the NE-10 in home runs (6); she also is hitting .348 (24-69) with 24 runs (1st/team), 16 RBIs (2nd) and six stolen bases (1st)
  • Amanda Bickford paces the offense with a .378 average and a team-high 42 hits, while Hannah Byrne's 22 RBIs are most on the side
  • As a team, the Hawks rank fourth in the league in batting average (.307) and second in ERA (2.60)

The Falcons:

  • Are tied in terms of divisional record with Merrimack (8-9) but lose the head-to-head tiebreaker
  • Have been hot as of late with six wins in the last seven games
  • Shannon Connor's .364 average leads the team, as do her 32 hits and 15 RBIs
  • Five different Falcons have hit one home run, while Catie Noons' eight doubles lead the way and Kelsey Kennedy's 18 runs scored are tops for the Falcons
  • Junior Kelly Ferris has logged a team-high 89-1/3 innings for Bentley and has pitched to the tune of a 2.51 ERA with 63 strikeouts and only 11 walks in 17 appearances
  • As a team, Bentley ranks ninth in the league in batting average (.256) and eighth in ERA (3.29)

Up Next
 Should they qualify, the Warriors will open up NE-10 Championship action next Tuesday (April 28) in the league tournament's opening round that will be hosted by the No. 3 seed in the Northeast Division.

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For continuing coverage of Merrimack College Athletics, visit MerrimackAthletics.com and follow the Warriors on Twitter and on Facebook.

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