Blue Softball Splits Twinbill at Clark

Worcester, Mass. – Host Clark University and visiting Wellesley College split a New England Women's And Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) softball doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at O'Brien Field.

Clark won the first game, 8-0, snapping the Blue's five-game winning streak in the process before Wellesley took the nightcap, 8-3. The Cougars now stand at 13-15 overall and 4-10 in league play, while the Blue's record sits at 14-14 with a 7-5 ledger in conference action.

In the day's first game, Nicole Meuse tossed a five-inning one-hitter, retiring the final seven batters she faced.

After taking a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a Maureen Coakley RBI single, the Cougars pushed across four in the third to break the game open. The big blow came off the bat of Tatiana Chunis, who recorded a two-run single.

The game went to 7-0 in the fourth when Maya Allen singled up the middle and then came around to score on a two-run homerun by Erin Murphy.

Clark ended the game in the fifth when Coakley doubled down the left field line and then moved to third on an infield hit by Meuse. Allen then pushed the game-winning run across the dish with a single to left.

Lindsay Johnson came on in relief of Wellesley starter, Sarah Schwartzmeyer, going the final 3.2 innings, allowing ten hits and six earned runs.

Coakley had three of the Cougars' ten hits in game one, while Allen had a pair of her own. Mel Melkonian had an infield hit in the second, giving her 100 hits for her career – becoming just the 19th player in school history to accomplish that feat.

In the second game, Wellesley collected 14 hits, including three apiece by Maria LaBouyer, Jayne Ellis and Samantha Spiga.

The game was 1-1, when the Blue took control behind four runs in the fourth, highlighted by LaBouyer and Mara Blesoff each registering RBI singles.

Clark tightened the gap to 5-3 on RBI groundouts by Heather Figula and Allen in the fourth, but the Blue added another run in their half of the fifth to make the score, 6-3.

Wellesley then put the game away in the sixth with a two-run blast by Ellis – her team-leading fourth of the season.

Lauren Goldfarb went the distance for the Blue, scattering seven hits and giving up just three earned runs.  Hayley Buckheit went the first three innings for the Cougars, allowing four hits and two earned runs.

Wellesley gets right back in action on Sunday, hosting a tripleheader that features Tufts and Eastern Connecticut, while Clark will play host to Roger Williams on Tuesday.