Bay Path College sophomore Maeghan Whitcomb (Lyndon, VT/Lyndon Institute) helped lead the Wildcats to their first two conference victories of the season as they swept the Nighthawks, 5-4 and 11-3, Wednesday afternoon.

The Nighthawks jumped on the board early in the first game. Shortstop Katelyn Mark (Quincy, MA/North Quincy) lined a single to left field and advanced to third on a throwing error by leftfielder Ashley Provost (Ludlow, MA/Ludlow). Centerfielder Jessica Jordan (Stoneham, MA/Stoneham) plated Mark for the first run of the game with a ground ball to second.

The Wildcats answered in the top of the second. With one out, third baseman Jessica Priestly (Middleboro, MA/Middleboro) singled to left-center before moving up to second on the sacrifice bunt by centerfielder Kaitlin Begin (Weare, NH/John Stark Regional). Catcher Kellie Lastowski (Turner Falls, MA/Turner Falls) kept the inning alive with a base hit back where it came from and sending Priestly to third.

With runners at the corners, Lastowski broke for the second on an attempted double-steal but the throw sailed high of the shortstop and into center field. Priestly came into score the game-tying run and would be soon followed by Lastowski on the catcher’s throwing error.

The Wildcats added to their one-run lead in the top of the third. Provost led off the inning with walk but was soon retired on a fielder’s choice by second baseman Samantha Gunseth (Swanzey, NH/Monadnock Regional). Shortstop Sarah Gates (Crown Point, IN/Granby Memorial) followed up with a double to left and sending Gunseth to third with only one out in the inning. Whitcomb widened the Bay Path lead driving in Gunseth to take the 3-1 advantage heading into the bottom half of the frame.

Despite rough start to the game, starter Rebecca Roach (Charlton, MA/Shepherd Hill Regional) settled down and kept the Wildcats off the scoreboard for the next three innings, keeping the game close. After Bay Path added to their one-run lead with two insurance runs in the top of the seventh, the Nighthawks mounted a comeback.

In the second game, Newbury once again jumped out in front early. Cepeda led off the bottom of the second with a single to right and advanced to second on wild-pitch. Stracher beat out an infield single to first, sending Cepeda to third. Starter Katie O’Hara (Abingdon, MD/John Carroll) helped her own cause doubling to center to drive in Cepeda and send Stracher to third. Stracher would come in to score the game’s second run on a fielding error by the left fielder as Begin dropped a fly ball by Roach that would been the second out of the inning.

Bay Path responded in the top of the third by batting around to put up 11 runs on 10 hits in the inning. Nizinski led the off the inning with a base hit to third and eight batters later would record her second hit of the inning with a single to right field driving in third baseman Kate Lowy (South Burlington, VT/South Burlingon) for, at the time, the seventh run.

The two losses drop the Nighthawks to 6-14 on the season and 1-5 in conference play while the Wildcats move back to .500 on the season at 13-13 and are 2-4 in the NECC. Newbury return to the diamond on Saturday April 17^th when they travel to Cambridge, MA to face Lesley University. The Lynx are currently undefeated in the conference at 4-0.

- Game Story by Lindsay Graham - Staff Assistant