MOUNT IDA SOFTBALL
Saturday, April 21, 2018
Mount Ida Softball Field, Newton, Mass.
GAME #1 FINAL: SUFFOLK 5, MOUNT IDA 1
GAME #2 FINAL: SUFFOLK 2, MOUNT IDA 0
NEWTON, Mass. -- Seniors Ali Yamakaitis (Avenel, N.J.) and Taylor Holmes (Ashford, Conn.) each tossed complete games and combined for 10 strikeouts to lead Suffolk to a sweep of a Great Northeast Athletic Conference softball doubleheader from Mount Ida by scores of 5-1 in the opener and 2-0 in the nightcap in games played Saturday afternoon at the Mount Ida Softball Field.
The visiting Rams (21-7, 14-2 GNAC) grabbed a 1-0 lead in their first at-bat of the opener on an RBI groundout by junior Jaclyn Flint (Medfield, Mass.), who extended Suffolk’s edge in the third with a sacrifice fly. The host Mustangs (12-19, 6-10 GNAC) sliced that margin in half in the bottom of the third when junior Kristina Stella (Revere, Mass.) scored on a throwing error, but the visitors added a pair of insurance runs in the sixth on senior Madison Eucalitto’s (Old Saybrook, Conn.) sacrifice fly and an RBI single off the bat of freshman Payton Sylvester (Worcester, Mass.) before sophomore Ashley Zulla’s (Columbus, N.J.) run-scoring double in the seventh accounted for the final margin.
Payton Sylvester, Zulla and senior Sydney Littlefield (Methuen, Mass.) each rapped out two hits as part of a 10-hit opening game attack for Suffolk, as Yamakaitis allowed a double to Stella and a single to junior Kelsey Weston (Hampstead, N.H.) while fanning a pair to earn her sixth win of the season. Freshman Carrigan Costello (Wolcott, Conn.) allowed three earned runs and struck out two in going the distance inside the circle for Mount Ida in the first contest.
The teams were scoreless in the nightcap until senior Devlin Frost’s (Tewksbury, Mass.) RBI single in the top of the fifth gave the Rams the only run they would need, as Payton Sylvester, junior McKenzie McGrath (Exeter, N.H.) and senior Delaney Sylvester (Worcester, Mass.) had two hits each to spark another 10-hit effort for the visitors. Flint’s run scoring single in the seventh accounted for the other tally of the second outing for Suffolk, as Holmes took care of the rest by scattering five hits and striking out eight to improve to 8-0 on the spring. Freshman Madeleine Smith (San Diego, Calif.) had two of the Mustangs’ five hits in the nightcap setback, as she went the distance inside the circle and fanned six for Mount Ida, which received a double off the bat of junior Jenni Jackson (Marlboro, Mass.) along with singles from senior Hayley Microulis (Pawtucket, R.I.) and freshman Savannah Neilan (Somerset, Mass.).
Mount Ida hosts Lasell in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference doubleheader on Tuesday afternoon at the Mount Ida Softball Field beginning at 3:00 p.m., while Suffolk entertains Albertus Magnus in a GNAC twinbill on Sunday afternoon in East Boston, Mass. that begins at Noon.