Softball Blanked by Dominican (Ill.), Edged by Albion

NAPLES, Fla.- The Eastern Nazarene College softball team dropped a pair of contests Tuesday afternoon at the Gene Cusic Classic. The Lions fell to Dominican (Ill.) 7-0 and to Albion 3-2 at North Collier Park.

The Lions progress to 2-4 on the spring with the two outcomes. The Stars improved to 4-1 and the Britons jump to 3-4 overall.

Emily Gomez (Floral Park, N.Y.) registered one base knock and drove in a pair of RBIs on the day. Becky Bahr (Brentwood, N.Y.) landed a hit and crossed the plate once. Lauren Weidler (Lansdale, Pa.) chipped in with a base hit while Kaitlyn Jimenez (Meriden, Conn.) scored a run.

In the first game of the day, Dominican posted a 7-0 victory behind a no-hitter by sophomore pitcher Michelle Behrens.

The Stars pushed across a run in the second, third and fourth innings before scoring four times in the seventh.

Weidler struck out two batters in five innings of action in her third start of the season. Heidi Gomez (Floral Park, N.Y.) tossed two innings of relief with one strikeout.

Eastern Nazarene narrowly fell to Albion in the second contest of the afternoon, 3-2.

The Britons tallied the game's opening run in the bottom of the second as Monica Brugnoni scurried home on a groundout by Alice Garvin.

Albion chalked up its second run of the contest to widen the gap to 2-0 in the third. Miranda Coty crossed the dish as Julia Anderson grounded out.

The Britons added a run in the fourth inning to extend their lead to 3-0. Brugnoni knocked in Kaitlyn Hotchkin with a single up the middle.

The Lions clawed back with a pair of scores in the top of the fifth frame to cut the deficit to 3-2. With runners on first and second, Emily Gomez laced a single up the middle to plate Jimenez and Bahr.

Heidi Gomez tossed a complete game in the pitcher's circle in her third start of the season, allowing four hits.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene returns to the diamond Wednesday, March 9 with matchups against a pair of Bay State foes, Clark and Wheelock.