WENHAM, Mass.—Western New England kept pace atop the Commonwealth Coast Conference standings with a sweep of Gordon in conference action on Monday. The Golden Bears used the long ball to beat Gordon 8-2 and 9-4 in the two games.
Game One
Coming into the day as one of the top teams in the CCC, Western New England capitalized on every inch of daylight the Fighting Scots gave them. The Golden Bears put a run on the board in the top of the first despite Gordon starter Emily Kline (Park Ridge, N.J.) getting the first two batters to ground out. Gabby Lavinio (Dalton, Mass.) kept the inning alive on a single before scoring on a double by Aimee Kistner (Taunton, Mass.) where the ball was misplayed. The ball scooted just underneath the glove of the Gordon outfielder all the way to the fence, allowing Lavinio to advance from third to home.
The Golden Bears scored another in the top of the second with leadoff hitter Lindsay Williams (Coventry, Conn.) doing the damage with a two-out single into shallow center to plate Paige Uliase (Meriden, Conn.).
Gordon took one back in the bottom of the third when Laura Bieren (Groton, Mass.) and Megan Jenkerson (McDonough, Ga.) started off the frame with back-to-back doubles. However, Gordon was unable to plate another run to even the game.
Western New England kept at it in the fourth with another two-out run aided by a bobble in the outfield. In the next inning, the Golden Bears added to their lead with a two-run homer off the bat of Katie Wood (Westport, Mass.) to straight away center.
The game was officially put in firm control of the visitors in the sixth when Lavinio added to her solid game with a three-run homer to left-center, putting the Fighting Scots in an 8-1 hole.
Carleigh Petersen (North Hills, Calif.) singled in Gordon's final run in the seventh.
Both teams left the bases loaded in the final frame.
Lavinio went 2-for-4 at the dish with three RBI and two runs sored. Wood and Williams also contributed two hits each. Uliase moved to 7-1 in the circle with six K's in five innings of work.
All eight runs scored by the Golden Bears came with two outs in the inning and five were unearned in part to three Gordon errors.
Rose Shannon (Ashland, Mass.), Petersen and Bieren combined for six of Gordon's eight hits.
Game Two
Gordon took the early lead in the nightcap with the top of the order coming through thanks to Jenkerson and Bieren.
Western New England continued its two out rallies into the second game as Samantha Pelow (Torrington, Conn.) doubled in Wood and Kistner in the top of the second inning. Much like the first game, WNE piled on the runs in the middle innings to put some distance between the two sides. Kistner launched a three-run homer with one out in the third before Pelow singled in her third run of the game to make it a 6-1 game.
The Fighting Scots clawed back to within three runs in the fifth, using a handful of errors to close the gap.
However, Kistner finished off a monster effort with a two-RBI triple in the sixth before scoring on the next play when Luba singled into right.
Gordon was able to take one run back in the sixth to complete their scoring with Shannon getting credit for the run batted in.
The middle of WNE's order did major damage as Lavinio, Kistner and Luba combined to go 8-for-12 with six RBI and five runs scored. Pelow was no slouch herself with three hits and three RBI.
Samantha DiGiovanni (Shirley, N.Y.) went the distance to earn her second win. Caitlin Catalanotto (Kingston, N.H.) was tagged with the loss in a complete game.
What's Next?
Gordon (9-17, 5-9 CCC) is right back at it tomorrow with a doubleheader at home against Saint Joseph (Conn.). Western (18-6, 8-2 CCC) heads home to host a heavyweight bout with Salve Regina beginning at 3 p.m.
