Unbeaten in their last eight games, the Nor'easters improve to 11-3 on the year. The Monks fall to 5-7 overall.
The GAME 1 scoring came on one swing of the bat, as Andrea Gosper blasted a two-run shot over the left field fence in the top of the 4th, scoring Kelly Murphy.
A trio of first-year arms kept Saint Joseph's in-check throughout the contest. After Sophia Burnham gave up a hit and two walks over the first three innings, Sydnee Bessler got the win by retiring all of the Monks she faced in the 4th and 5th. Melissa Sprague picked up the save, working the last two frames with two hits and a walk.
Kristal Smith fanned five in a losing effort, conceding five hits and one free pass.
St. Joe's put its first run of the day on the board in the bottom of the 1st in GAME 2, and four lead-changes had the hosts still up one (7-6) entering the 7th. UNE manufactured the equalizer out of a lead-off walk and no hits.
The match continued into the 8th, where the Nor'easters turned a lead-off single by Sydney Helmbrecht into the deciding score after two infield errors and a wild pitch. UNE padded the cushion with one-out singles by Amanda Vallante and Murphy to go up 10-7, and Gosper flew out to the center fielder to drive in another.
Sprague gave up a walk and single with two outs to load the bases in the bottom of the stanza, but Vallante closed her glove around the final out in center to secure the result. It was the decision of the season for Sprague, who entered in the 7th and now boasts a 0.79 earned run average over 17.2 innings so far this year.
Vallante and Caroline Schoenbucher each had three hits for UNE, while Vallante plated two and Schoenbucher scored twice. Murphy and Helmbrecht contributed two hits apiece; Murphy had two RBI and Helmbrecht touched home two times. Gosper finished with three RBI in the nightcap.
Abby Lambert (RBI-single, run) concluded a four-run 3rd for the Nor'easters, which all came with two outs, and then left the UNE circle with a 4-3 edge after three innings. Katelyn Austin battled through the 4th as the Monks left the bases juiced after slipping ahead, 5-4, but then notched a one-out single and tied things up in the top of the 5th.
All of the four runs scored against Austin in the 4th, 5th, and 6th were unearned behind three errors.
For Saint Joseph's, five players recorded multiple hits in the game, with three for Megen Pollini and two each for Melodie Bailey, Katie Chadbourne, Meghan Elliott, and Mariah Harrison. Elliott had two RBI while Bailey and Chadbourne both scored two times.
Erica Boulanger pitched the initial five innings with four strikeouts. Jenelle Thompson took the loss in three innings of relief with three strikeouts, in spite of just one of the five tallies against her going down as earned.
The Nor'easters will get back to Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action this weekend with a trip to Rhode Island for twinbills against Roger Williams University (Saturday, 12 p.m.) and Salve Regina University (Sunday, 1 p.m.).
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