DePolito and Lachance celebrate Senior Day with twinbill split of Tufts

April 22, 2007

NORTON, MA- Seniors Jessica DePolito (Taunton, MA/Coyle and Cassidy) and Nicole Lachance (Rochester, NH/Spaulding) each hit for three legs of the cycle during one end of a Senior Day doubleheader on Sunday, as the Wheaton College softball team split two games with Tufts University on Clark Field. The Lyons took game one, 4-2 before dropping the nightcap, 5-2. Wheaton, which is ranked sixth in New England by the NCAA and snapped the Jumbos' seven-game winning streak in the opener, is now 24-14, while Tufts moves to 20-10.

The early stages of game one saw Lyon junior Jodi Moynagh (Worcester, MA/Holy Name Central Catholic) locked up in a pitcher's duel with Jumbo senior Lauren Ebstein (Chicago, IL/Loyola Academy). Ebstein's only blemish through the first three frames was Lachance's leadoff single in the first inning, while Moynagh allowed only two hits in the first 4.1 innings. However, Tufts' initial knock was a solo home run by freshman Casey Sullivan (Berlin, CT/Suffield Academy) with one down in the first, and its second was a single in the third by sophomore Roni Herbst (Montclair, NJ/Montclair), who came around to score on a two-out passed ball.

Moynagh yielded only three hits in the game while allowing six base runners, and Wheaton rallied behind her. With the Lyons trailing by a 2-0 count entering the bottom of the fourth, Lachance led off with a triple before junior Audrey Poulton (Charlestown, RI/Chariho Regional) drew a bases-loaded walk and classmate Erika Marini (Pawtucket, RI/Saint Raphael Academy) beat out an infield single with the sacks packed to knot the game. In the following inning, freshman Merry MacDonald (Braintree, MA/Braintree) led off with a base hit before Lachance drilled her 10th home run of the season beyond the right center fence. With a 4-2 lead in hand, Moynagh set down six of the final seven Tufts hitters, including retiring the side 1-2-3 in the seventh.

Moynagh yielded one earned run while striking out five, and she moved alone into fourth place in program history with her 35th career win. Lachance went 3-for-3 with two runs and two RBI as the only Lyon with multiple hits, and by joining DePolito with a double-digit dinger total this spring, the duo is just the second in program history with 10-plus homers in the same season, and the first in eight years. Lachance is tied for sixth in career homers (15). Herbst finished 2-for-3, while Ebstein suffered the loss after allowing four runs on five hits in four-plus innings.

In the second contest, Wheaton freshman Andrea Bagley (Foxboro, MA/Foxboro) and Tufts sophomore southpaw Lauren Gelmetti (Westfield, NJ/Westfield) combined to allow just one runner beyond first base in the first three innings before one swing shifted momentum. DePolito drove the second pitch she saw from Gelmetti high and beyond the right field fence to begin the second, but junior Megan Cusick (Albany, NY/Albany) connected on a 3-2 pitch with two on and one out in the fourth inning to give Tufts a 3-1 lead. Sophomore Stacey Kelleher (Brockton, MA/Brockton) singled in the bottom half, and junior pinch runner Alix Brozman (Chappaqua, NY/Horace Greeley) scored on a two-out wild pitch to make it 3-2. However, the Jumbos tallied twice in the seventh on a wild pitch and sophomore Cara Hovhanessian's (Farmington, CT/Farmington) sacrifice fly.

DePolito went 3-for-3 with a double and home run, while sophomore Brady Benton (Concord, NH/Concord) added two hits. DePolito's longball was the 23rd of her career and 13th of the spring, tying her for third in single-season program history. Wheaton has 37 dingers, one shy of a 10-year-old school mark. Bagley took the loss, while Gelmetti yielded one earned run on six hits with four strikeouts and no walks. Cusick was 2-for-3 with three RBI, sophomore Samantha Kuhles (Somerville, NJ/Rutgers Prep) went 3-for-4 with a double, while Sullivan and freshman Jenna Robey (Saint Ann, MO/Metro Academic &Classical) added two hits apiece.

The Lyons play on Wednesday in the second round of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament at 5:00 p.m. on Clark Field. Second-seeded Wheaton opposes the winner of the 3:00 p.m. contest in Norton between number three Babson College and sixth-seeded Wellesley College.

This page is maintained by Scott Dietz. Last updated on 4/22/07.
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