Nashua, NH- #2 Saint Joseph's College (30-9, 21-3 GNAC) took down #4 Simmons College (23-12, 16-8 GNAC), 11-3, in the elimination round of the GNAC tournament on Saturday afternoon.
The Monks of St. Joseph's drew first blood in the top of the first inning when Emily Leverone (Hampton, NH) sent a Courteney Collier (Bolton, MA) pitch over the center field wall to give the Monks an early 1-0 lead. Simmons answered in the bottom of the frame as Emily Nalband (Litchfield, CT) picked up a base hit and was followed by doubles by Annie Thompson (Pacific Palisades, CA) and Leah Derderian (Boylston, MA) that plated 2 runs, giving Simmons the 2-1 lead after 1 inning. Simmons put another run on the board in the 2nd as Nalband roped a double into the right center gap that scored Ari King (Westford, MA) after the freshman ripped a two out single.
The Monks offense showed their power in the fifth inning when Leverone, Liddy van der Linden (Worcester, MA), and Alyssa Dunn (Standish, ME) hit back-to-back-to-back home runs, all with two outs, to take a 6-3 lead. St. Joseph's would tack on four more runs in the inning to extend their lead to 10-3, which would be all they needed as Monks' reliever Madylan Kluna (Standish, ME), who came in the 4th inning with 2 outs, shut down the Sharks offense, giving up one hit and striking out 4 batters. The Monks added one more run in the top of the seventh to finish the 11-3 win over the Sharks.
Tomorrow, Saint Joseph's will play Emerson College in the losers bracket final at 10:00 AM. The winner will move on to play #1 seed and host Rivier College in the finals at 12:00 PM.
COURTESY OF RIVIER COLLEGE SPORTS INFORMATION
