NEWTON, MA – Lesley took Game 1 over Lasell, 3-2, and a six-run seventh distanced the Lynx in the nightcap in the Lynx sweep of the Lasers Thursday in non-conference softball play.
Senior Ashley Cunningham homered in support of Game 1 winner Cassandra Knox, and junior Jenna Fralick's first career longball locked up a victory for Jennifer Dorval in the second game as the Lynx extended their winning streak to five, winning for a seventh time in eight games.
Cunningham went 2-for-3 with a homer and two RBIs in the opener, and Jessica Guevara went 1-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI.
Guevara got the Lynx on the board in the first, reaching on an error, advancing to second and later scoring on a Cunningham single. A Lasers sac fly tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the first, then Guevara drove home Emily Mangiaratti with an RBI single in the third, putting the Lynx on top 2-1.
Still ahead entering the sixth, Cunningham led off with a solo home run, her second in three games, that made it a 3-1 Lynx lead. Lasell got one back in the bottom half of the inning on a Candace Hankard RBI double. The Lasers rally was halted at 3-2, as Hankard was gunned down at the plate by center fielder Gabrielle Brixey, and after Kerrie Starkey reached on an error, Lynx starter Cassandra Knox induced a ground out, fielder's choice and pop out to cap a 3-2 win.
The reigning NECC Pitcher of the Year, Knox enjoyed perhaps the finest outing of her junior year, allowing two runs – one earned – on five hits and a pair of walks, striking out four in the complete game.
Lesley struck first in Game 2, but Lasell again tied it up in the bottom of the first. Jennifer Dorval's two-run single to first gave the Lynx a temporary lead, scoring Mangiaratti and Brixey, but the Lasers countered with a two-out, two-run single of their own from Ashley Laramie to tied the game at 2-2 after one.
The game stayed tied until the bottom of the third, when Laramie's sacrifice fly to Brixey in centerfield scored Hankard. However, like Lasell did twice before, Lesley tied the game in its next at-bat, doing so on a Maria Nazzaro sacrifice to deep left-center that plated pinch-runner Rian Powers.
Mangiaratti singled to left to again load the bases, but Lesley left three stranded when Guevara bounced out, leaving the game tied at 3-3 mid-fourth.
Still knotted at 3-3 in the seventh, the Lynx busted the tie game open in a big way, starting with a Guevara single and Brixey sac bunt. With runners at the corners, Dorval delivered her fourth hit of the game, a single to center that scored Guevara. Catcher Molly Sarson smacked a single the opposite way, scoring Cunningham to give the Lynx some breathing room at 5-3.
The Lynx weren't done. With two outs in the inning, Jenna Fralick struck the biggest blow of the day, crushing a backbreaking three-run shot that cleared the fence down left field line. Fralick's first career bomb, a three-run blast that scored the battery of Dorval and Sarson, distanced the Lynx at 8-3, and Lesley added a sixth run of the seventh inning on a Mangiaratti double to right.
At the end of the inning, six Lynx had crossed the plate thanks to five hits and a pair of walks, and after Dorval retired the Lasers quietly in the bottom of the seventh to complete the sweep.
On top of a 4-for-4 day at the plate, Dorval's limited the Lasers to three runs on four hits over seven innings in striking out eight for her fifth win of the year.
At 8-4, Lesley opens New England Collegiate Conference play Saturday at noon, playing host to Becker.