Walk-Off Homers Highlight Softball's Senior Day Sweep of Saint A's in Saturday Home Finale
Links: Box Score (G1) | Box Score (G2)
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – After senior Lindsay Gibbs (Acton, Mass.) smashed a walk-off homer in the ninth inning in Game 1, classmate Jennifer Post (Orange, Conn.) did likewise in the late game to highlight the Merrimack College softball team's doubleheader sweep over Saint Anselm, appropriately enough on Senior Day, to finish the home portion of the regular season on a high note on Saturday afternoon.
The Basics
Score (G1): Merrimack 7, Saint Anselm 6 (F/9)
Score (G2): Merrimack 10, Saint Anselm 1 (F/5)
Records: Merrimack (18-24, 11-13 NE-10) | Saint Anselm (21-11, 12-9 NE-10)
Location: Warrior Softball Diamond | North Andover, Mass.
How It Happened
Less than 24 hours after playing a 10-inning marathon, Merrimack and Saint A's returned to the diamond for the last two home games at the Warrior Softball Diamond this spring.
Game 1 had a very familiar feel to yesterday's affair, as the Hawks built an early lead with runs in the first and second before three more crossed in the third – two by means of a home run – to give the visitors a 5-0 advantage.
Merrimack slowly chipped away at the deficit; first, sophomore Haley Currie (Burlington, Mass.) drove in classmate Samantha Waskowitz (Killingworth, Conn.), and then an inning later, Gibbs smashed her first of two long balls in the game to make it a three-run (5-2) affair.
An inning later, with two aboard, Waskowitz blasted a towering three-run jack over the wall in left to suddenly tie it up, and then in the sixth, a fielding error on a slap bunt off the bat of sophomore Mariah Tenney (Winchendon, Mass.) brought in the go-ahead tally, as the Warriors looked to close out the victory leading 6-5 entering the seventh.
Saint Anselm had different plans, though, as a leadoff homer off the bat of Michaela Criscione quickly tied it and, for the second day in a row, send the game to extras.
Unlike yesterday, which needed 10 innings and ended with Saint Anselm pulling out the win, Gibbs would make sure the game never got that far, drilling a two-out, walk-off solo shot on a 1-2 count to give the Warriors a 7-6 win in Game 1.
In between games, the Athletic Department honored the program's six graduating seniors in a special Senior Day ceremony, as Gibbs, Post, and classmates Valerie Bauer (Salem, N.H.), Becca Armstrong (Methuen, Mass.), Courtney Ulak (Rehoboth, Mass.), and Stephanie Lapierre (Berlin, Conn.), joined by their families, took turns circling the bases with their parents and receiving gifts from teammates, coaches and alumnae to honor their careers.
After two dramatic games, Merrimack used a six-run first inning to start Game 2 on a high note on the way to a 10-1, five-inning victory.
Part of a five-homer game for the hosts, three Warriors left the yard as part of an explosive six-run first inning, as Waskowitz, senior Stephanie Lapierre (Berlin, Conn.) and junior Brittany Razo (Anaheim, Calif.) all ripped dingers to stake the hosts a 6-0 lead.
With junior Alexis Perry (Westford, Vt.) dazzling on the mound, Saint Anselm was kept to just one run over its first five at-bats, and that lone score came on a pair of errors, a walk and a sacrifice fly, as Perry tossed the team's only no-hitter of the season to date.
Finally, in the fifth, sophomore Kaleigh Finigan (Medford, Mass.) ripped a solo shot to up the lead to six before Gibbs drove in classmate Becca Armstrong (Methuen, Mass.) by means of a sacrifice fly. Then, needing only one run to clinch the mercy rule, Post's last at-bat at home came in as memorable a fashion as possible, as the senior ripped a game-ending two-run homer to right center to seal the nine-run victory.
Inside The Numbers
- Gibbs, Ulak, Waskowitz and Lapierre all finished with three-hit performances, while Tenney added two of her own, as Merrimack out-hit Saint Anselm, 19-11, on the day
- Gibbs and Waskowitz also finished with two homers on the day, while the latter's five RBIs were a side-high
- Defensively, the Warriors finished with a .940 field percentage on the day with only four errors in 63 tries
- On the mound, Currie picked up the win in relief in Game 1, finished with one strikeout and one earned run over six innings; Perry tossed five hitless innings with only an unearned run and three walks yielded; both are now 7-7 on the season
- Merrimack finished 7-for-18 (38.9%) with runners in scoring position
Up Next
Due to Assumption's victories over Saint Michael's earlier today, Merrimack has been mathematically eliminated from NE-10 Championship contention and will play its final game of 2015 tomorrow afternoon at Bentley starting at 12 p.m.
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