Worcester, Mass. - Wheaton sophomore Lesley
Warn twirled a complete game one-hitter leading the visiting Lyons
to a 2-1 win over Clark in New England Women's and Men's Athletic
Conference softball action on Sunday at O'Brien Field.
The Cougars then banged out 11 hits en route to a game two 10-2 win
to send their record to 23-11 and 9-6 in conference play, while
Wheaton wraps up the regular season with a 20-15 ledger, 8-7 in
league play.
Warn gave up an RBI single to Darcey Kurashige-Elliott (Berkeley, Calif.) with two outs in the
fifth but went untouched at any other time in the contest,
recording three strikeouts and walking four to pick up her 15th win
of the season.
Junior hurler Sarah Carter (Worcester, Mass.) took
the tough-luck loss for Clark, despite tossing her 11th complete
game of the season. She yielded four hits but two went for extra
bases and led directly to the two Wheaton runs.
In the top of the third, Amanda Poplaski doubled to center and then
came around to score on Katy Salka's blast high over the
centerfield fence.
The Lyons other two runs came on singles by Kristen Hunt and Nicole
DeRosa.
In game two, Clark jumped out early, getting four runs in the
bottom of the second, chasing Warn who started the nightcap as
well. The inning was highlighted by Maureen Coakley (Worcester, Mass.), who drove in two runs with a
double to center.
Wheaton answered back in the top of the third with a walk and a
pair of sacrifices and an RBI single, closing the gap to 4-1.
Clark got a run in the fourth, when, with Melissa Traft (Milton, Mass.) on second with one out,
Chelsea Proulx (Franklin, N.H.) sent a fly ball to
deep right that was caught for the inning's second out.
The Lyon defense, however, thought it was the final out of the
inning and began walking off the field. Traft, meanwhile, wisely
moved from second to third and then scored before the Lyons
realized what was going on.
Mel Melkonian (Worcester, Mass.) used her speed to
get another run for Clark in the fifth. She hit a slow roller to
short and beat the ball for an infield single. She then stole
second and moved to third on a Traft sacrifice. She scored on a
Kurashige-Elliott groundout, making the score 6-1.
After Wheaton scored a single run in the top of the sixth on a
Rachel Merrick single, Clark put the game with an offensive
explosion in the bottom of the frame.
A walk and four straight hits, including RBI singles by
Megan Lennon (Dudley, Mass.), Joanna Clark (Windham, Maine), Kate Tutela
(Dalton, Mass.) and a two-run triple by Lauren Blake (Oakland, Maine), ended the game in the bottom of
the sixth.
Freshman Nicole Meuse (Hudson, Mass.) picked up
the win for Clark to improve to 10-3, while Warn slips to 16-11 for
the Lyons.
Blake went 2-for-4 with three RBI in game two and Coakley added a
pair of doubles and two RBI in her game two start.
Both teams will take part in the 2010 NEWMAC Tournament on
Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. against teams to be determined.