BLAZERS RALLY LATE TO DOWN PRIDE IN FIRST ROUND

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Elms College softball team used a five-run sixth inning to rally past visiting Regis College, 7-3, in their first round game of the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) playoffs at Cheryl R. Condon Field Tuesday afternoon. With the win, the Blazers improved to 17-12 on the season, while Regis wraps their campaign at 8-18 overall.

After two scoreless innings, the Pride capitalized on Blazers fielding miscues in the top of the third. Regis freshman Alexa NeJaime (Sandisfield, Mass.) drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a passed ball, and then came around to score on an RBI single to left field by her sister junior Michaela NeJaime (Sandisfield, Mass.) to stake the Pride to a 1-0 lead.

With two outs, Regis had runners reach base on fielding errors by Elms, followed by RBI singles from sophomore Allison Caloggero (Medford, Mass.) and freshman Ashley Navarro (Stoneham, Mass.) to extend the Pride lead to 3-0.

The Blazers whittled away at the lead in the bottom of the fourth as senior Jennifer Bouvier (Mashpee, Mass.) laced a two-run double into the left-centerfield gap to cut the Pride lead to 3-2 after four innings.

Down 3-2 in the sixth, the Blazers grabbed control with a five-run inning. With runners on first and third, junior Taylor Skinner (South Windsor, Conn.) delivered a pinch-hit RBI single through the right side of the infield, plating sophomore Tessa Cote (Granby, Mass.) from the third, tying the game at 3-3. Junior Kierstan Skinner (South Windsor, Conn.) followed her sister's efforts with an RBI double to right-centerfield, putting Elms up 4-3. Taylor Skinner came around to score on a wild pitch from Pride junior pitcher Katie Cuozzo (Lynn, Mass.). Sophomore Kacey Gifford (Suffield, Conn.) brought home Kierstan Skinner on a bloop single into shallow left field, followed by senior Gina DiGiovanni (Springfield, Mass.) legging out an RBI single to shortstop, extending the Blazers lead to 7-3.

Elms senior pitcher Bethany Grimes (Terryville, Conn.) retired the Pride 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh to secure the 7-3 victory for the Blazers.

The Blazers racked up 12 hits on the day led by DiGiovanni with a 3-for-4 performance with an RBI. Kierstan Skinner and Grimes added two hits apiece with Skinner knocking a pair of doubles. Bouvier drove in a pair of runs for Elms.

NeJaime, Navarro and Caloggero led the Pride at the dish, going 1-for-3 with an RBI.

Grimes (10-7) logged her 13th complete game of the season, allowing three unearned runs on four hits with five strikeouts. Cuozzo (5-10) took the loss, surrendering seven runs, four earned, on 12 hits with five strikeouts.

Release courtesy of Elms College Sports Information