SNHU Softball Shut Out at Saint Anselm, 9-0

BOX SCORE

Recap, photo courtesy of SNHU

When and Where: April 11, 2018 – Manchester, N.H. (South Athletic Field)
Score: Saint Anselm College 9, Southern New Hampshire University 0 (5 inn.)
Records: Saint Anselm 24-9-1 (11-3-1 NE10, 7-2 NE10 NE), SNHU 25-8 (8-5 NE10, 3-4 NE10 NE)

Freshman Shay Sauvageau (Griswold, Conn.) doubled in the fourth inning for what wound up being the only hit of the day for the Southern New Hampshire University softball team, as it was blanked by crosstown-rival Saint Anselm College, 9-0, in five innings Wednesday afternoon at South Athletic Field.

Both teams matched zeroes through the first two innings, before Saint Anselm reached senior Sarah Lavallee (Candia, N.H.) in the third. Megan Murrell's bases-loaded sacrifice fly to left brought in the game's first run, before Shannon Colson's two-out RBI single up the middle and Jordan O'Connor's two-run double to left made it 4-0 and ended Lavallee's day in the circle. Sophomore Maddy Barone (Halifax, Mass.) came on in relief and picked up a strikeout to end the inning.

After Sauvageau was stranded following her one-out double to the gap in left-center in the top of the fourth, the Hawks took advantage of an error to hang five-unearned runs on Barone in the home half. A bases-loaded fielder's choice grounder to second, which would have  been the third out of the inning had the error not occurred, instead resulted in a run scoring when Kat Stackrow beat the throw to the plate to get the force. Murrell then drew a walk with the bases still full, before Colson's RBI single up the middle and O'Connor's two-run double to left-center made it 9-0.

The Penmen went 1-2-3 for the third time in the fifth to end it.

Sauvageau was 1-for-2, while senior Katie Horiuchi (Livingston, N.J.) walked in her only at bat.

Lavallee (12-3) was charged with four runs on five hits, while striking out one and walking one, in two-and-two-thirds innings. Barone allowed five runs – all unearned – on two hits and a walks, while fanning one. Freshman Ali Atherton (Milford, Mass.) struck out the only batter she faced.

Notes:
- Southern New Hampshire was playing its seventh game in five days.
- The Hawks now lead, 19-13, in the Queen City Cup standings, following a win that all but wraps up Saint Anselm's first victory in the four-year battle for Manchester supremacy.