Wheelock Softball Swept by Bay Path in NECC Doubleheader

CHESTNUT HILL, MA - The Wheelock College softball team completed its home New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) slate with a pair of losses to Bay Path College, 9-5 and 14-7, on Saturday during Senior Day at Pine Manor College's softball field. The Wildcats fell to 4-16 overall and 2-12 in the league while being eliminated from postseason contention. The visitors are now 11-16 and 5-10.

Five Wheelock players had multiple hits in the opener, with junior Nicole Perullo (Revere, MA/Revere) doubling twice, scoring two runs and walking once. She also struck out five while taking the loss. Classmate Adriana Perry (Holbrook, MA/South Shore Charter Public School) was 2-for-4 with a double, a run and an RBI, while senior Sarah Novak (Needham, MA/Needham) and sophomore Sara Buscemi (Arlington, MA/Arlington) had two hits and an RBI apiece. Buscemi also walked. Sophomore Keneisha Milton (Boston, MA/Wayland) added a pair of knocks.

In her 100th career game, senior Nicole Zina (Bristol, RI/Our Lady of Fatima) went 3-for-4 with three runs and an RBI in the nightcap, also fanning five while being saddled with the defeat. Milton swiped three bases, and sophomore Kim Perault (Medford, MA/Medford) doubled.

Senior Kate Lowy (South Burlington, VT/South Burlington) went 2-for-3 with three RBI for Bay Path in game one, while freshman Nicole Dexter (Delanson, NY/Duanesburg Central) had two hits, two runs, two RBI and three steals. Senior Kaitlin Begin (Weare, NH/John Stark Regional) walked three times, and freshman Emily Serrano (North Adams, MA/McCann Technical School) scored three runs and stole a pair of bases. Classmate Keelin Dougherty (Northfield, NH/Bishop Brady) had two runs, two steals and also earned the win, striking out four.

In the second contest, Lowy went 2-for-3 with five RBI, junior Emily Evans (Westford, MA/Westford Academy) drove in four, and Serrano scored four times. Dexter drew four bases on balls, and freshman Mercedes Griffith (Malden, MA/Northeast Metro Tech) scored three times. Dougherty picked up another win after allowing just one earned run, striking out six and walking two.

Bay Path scored twice in the opening inning of game one before Buscemi's sacrifice fly in the second cut the hosts' deficit in half, and Lowy's two-run single in the third was met by senior Nicole Rapsis' (Nashua, NH/Nashua South) sac fly in the home half, making it 4-2. However, Bay Path extended its lead with four runs on three hits in the fourth and an unearned run in the fifth. Wheelock chipped away at a 9-2 hole in the bottom of the seventh, as RBI singles from Perault, Perry and Novak made it a four-run game, but the hosts came no closer.

Lowy's two-run single in the first inning of game two keyed a three-run frame prior to Zina picking up an RBI knock and scoring on a wild pitch in the home half, making it 3-2. Evans' two-RBI base hit sparked a four-run second inning, and Wheelock trailed 8-2 before a pair of runs came home on a two-out miscue in the bottom of the third. Zina scored on an error in the fifth to make it 8-5, but Bay Path plated six runs between the sixth and seventh innings on just two hits. The Wildcats countered with an unearned run in each frame, ending the game with an 8-7 edge in hits.