Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
SALEM, Mass. -- The Vikings of Salem State defeated the Fighting Scots of Gordon College in double-header action Tuesday afternoon at Alumni Field. The Vikings took care of the Fighting Scots in six innings in game one due to a mercy rule of eight runs as Salem State defeated Gordon 9-1. In game two, Lauren Haberern (Neffs, PA) lifted the Vikings to a 2-1 victory as she went 6.1 innings, allowing only one run on five hits including five strikeouts.
 
Game One
 
Kara Pepper (Wyckoff, N.J.) hit an RBI triple that scored Skylar Bareford (Stonington, Conn.) to give Gordon a 1-0 lead after the first. Jess Raymond tied the contest at 1-1 with an RBI single that brought Jess Toussaint in from second. The Vikings would pick up two more runs in the third on RBI singles from Cara Crowley and Bobbie Dee Regan that gave Salem State a 3-1 lead going into the fourth.
 
Toussaint crossed the plate again in the fifth on a fielders' choice ground out by Vikings' catcher Paige Fleming. Toussaint scored again in the inning on a wild pitch from Gordon starter, Bareford.
 
Salem State added four more runs in the final inning to make it nine unanswered runs, securing a 9-1 victory in game one.
 
Jerika Santiago contributed heavily for the Vikings as she went 3-for-3 and added two runs.
 
Francesca Perreault earned her third win (2-3) as she went the distance, striking out seven Gordon batters and allowed only one run in the first inning. Meanwhile, Bareford pitched five innings and let up five runs on seven hits, as she picked up her sixth loss (2-6).
 
Game Two
 
Unlike game one, game two's focus was mainly pitching and defense. Scoreless through two, Megan Haley put Salem State on the board first as she scored on a passed ball. Within the next at-bat, Regan also came home on yet another passed ball to lift the Vikings to a 2-0 lead after the third.
 
Haberern cruised the entire game as she let up only five hits and one run on 6.1 innings pitched. Gordon was able to get one on a fielders' choice that ended in Peppers coming home to cut the lead in half. Sarah Hastings (Marblehead, MA) came on in relief in the seventh for Salem State and closed the game out to push the Vikings past the Fighting Scots 2-1 in game two.
 
Bareford also pitched for Gordon in game two, tossing a complete game allowing two runs on four hits.
 
The Vikings resume the season on April 3rd when they host the Huskies of Southern Maine at 3:00 p.m. The Fighting Scots travel to Curry College to take on the Colonels on April 2nd at 2:30 p.m. 

Release courtesy of Salem State Sports Info