New Haven, Conn. (April 28) -- Led by an 11-hit attack and a two-hitter from senior pitcher Jennifer Lowrey (Assonet, Mass./Apponequet), the Assumption College softball team defeated New Haven by an 11-3 final to advance to the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament Final. The Hounds will face Le Moyne on Sunday morning beginning at 11 a.m. in the next game of the tournament. If Assumption wins that game, it will face a one-game showdown 30 minutes later for the conference title and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Softball Championship.

The Hounds threatened in the top of the first before the Chargers got out of the threat without a run. New Haven answered with a two-run homer to left field by Lucy Francisco to give New Haven the early 2-0 lead.

In the bottom of the third, the Hounds got things going with a four-run inning to jump ahead by a 4-2 final. Taking advantage of four New Haven errors in the inning, the Hounds got on the board when a groundout by freshman Jess DiPilato (Worcester, Mass./Holy Name) scored junior Melissa Jalbert (Gardner, Mass./Gardner). Sophomore Nikki Boris (Gardner, Mass./Gardner) scored on error by the third baseman, followed by a wild pitch that gave the Hounds the 3-2 lead as DiPilato crossed the plate. Senior Marissa Palumbo (Worcester, Mass./Holy Name) came home with the team's fourth run as freshman Ashley Impagliazzo (Glocester, R.I./LaSalle Academy) perfectly executed a suicide squeeze with two outs.

In the fourth, Jalbert led off with a double and scored on a single to left by junior Lauren Medeiros (Seekonk, Mass./Seekonk) to extend the lead out to 5-2. Boris struck with a two-run homer to center, followed by a two-RBI double to left by Impagliazzo that put the game out of reach at 9-2.

New Haven added a single run in the bottom of the fifth as Lindsey Couturier connected on an RBI single to left field to cut the lead down to 9-3.

The Hounds tacked on two more runs in the top of the seventh as Jalbert launched a two-run homer to left field to account for the 11-3 final. With the two home runs today, the Hounds now have a program-record 35 homers on the season, breaking the previous record of 34 set in 1999.

Lowrey gave up just two hits in the game while striking out six and walking seven to improve to 16-8 overall on the season.

New Haven starter Kelsey Malloy went just 3.1 innings in the loss, falling to 11-10 on the season.

Medeiros finished the game 3-for-5 for the Hounds, along with a 2-for-5 day with three runs scored by Jalbert and a 2-for-4 game with three runs batted in by Impagliazzo.

With the win, the Hounds improve to 31-16 overall and will be making their fifth all-time appearance in the Northeast-10 final and will be looking for the program's first title since the 2000 season.