Springfield, Mass. (March 27) -- On a blustery Wednesday afternoon, the Assumption College softball team split a pair of Northeast-10 Conference divisional games with American Intenrational at Groff Field. The Yellow Jackets took game one by a 7-1 margin, followed by an 11-3 Assumption victory in five innings in the second game.

The Hounds got things started in the top of the first as junior Kolby Davenport (Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack) singled up the middle to score senior Melissa Jalbert (Gardner, Mass./Gardner). Jalbert had reached earlier in the inning on a one-out walk. The Yellow Jackets answered right back in the bottom of the inning though with a solo homer from Jordinn Miller for the early 1-1 score. Steph Belanger followed that up with a double down the left field line before Assumption junior pitcher Jenn Lattal (Windsor, Conn./Windsor) got the Hounds out of the jam.

The game remained at 1-1 until the fourth as Ashleigh St. Peter launched a two-out solo homer for the 2-1 lead. The Yellow Jackets then put together a five-run fifth, led by a three-run homer from St. Peter, as AIC jumped out to the 7-1 lead heading to the top of the sixth.

Lattal fell to 5-8 overall with the loss as she went five innings, allowing 10 hits and posting four strikeouts. Senior Rachel Hedge (Manchester, N.H./Manchester Memorial) pitched a scoreless sixth inning, allowing a pair of hits. Kelsey Malloy went the distance for the AIC win as she allowed just three hits over seven innings with seven strikeouts.

In the second game, freshman pitcher Jess Underwood (Hudson, N.H./Alvirne) got the start for the Hounds and set the Yellow Jackets down in order in the first. Assumption jumped on the board in the top of the second with a six-run inning to seize the early edge. After RBI singles from sophomores Ashley Impagliazzo (Glocester, R.I./La Salle Academy) and Andrea Crowley (Norfolk, Mass./Ursuline Academy) made it a 2-0 margin, freshman shortstop Kayli Moniz (Fairhaven, Mass./Fairhaven) blasted a grand slam to left for the 6-0 early lead.

The Yellow Jackets got one back in the bottom of the second as Erin St. Pierre doubled down the left field line to score Katie Merrill to make it a 6-1 game. The six-run second chased AIC starter Erin Gilkes, who took the loss for the Yellow Jackets. Assumption greeted Malloy, the game-one starter, with five runs in the top of the third to blow the game open at 11-1. Keying the charge in the inning was a two-RBI single to center from junior Tanya Robidoux (Hooksett, N.H./Manchester Central) that scored DiPilato and junior Nikki Boris (Gardner, Mass./Gardner).  

Belanger came up with a two-out, two-RBI double to left center for the Yellow Jackets in the bottom of the frame as the hosts pulled to within 11-3 heading to the fourth. Underwood held American International hitless over the last two innings though to improve to 1-1 with her first career victory as she scattered five hits over her five innings pitched.

Robidoux had three hits in the game two, along with a season-best five runs batted in by Moniz.

With the split, Assumption sits at 6-12 overall and 3-3 in divisional play, while the Yellow Jackets are now 3-8 overall and 1-2 in the division.

Assumption is back in action on Tuesday, April 2nd as the Hounds travel to the College of Saint Rose for a Northeast-10 divisional doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m. in Albany, N.Y.

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