Springfield, Mass. - April 15, 2015 - Melissa Nelson (Milford, Conn.) produced four hits in six at-bats to pace the Springfield College softball program to 3-1 and 11-3 victories (6 innings) over Keene State on Wednesday afternoon at Potter Field.

The wins boost the Pride's record to 15-14 on the season, while the Owls dropped to 10-12.  The Pride will return to Potter Field on Friday April 17 at 3:00 p.m. when it takes on Wellesley in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) doubleheader.

Springfield 3, Keene St. 1

In game one, Springfield opened the game's scoring on an RBI double from junior Jenna Webb (Harrison, N.Y.), who drove in Nelson to give the Pride a 1-0 lead.

The Pride continued the offensive pressure in the second inning as Nelson ripped a two-run single to score Elizabeth Joseph (Stamford, Conn.) and Carianna Gasdia (Wakefield, Mass.) to push Springfield's lead to three.

The Owls put the pressure on in the top of the seventh when Sara Bracken (Windham, N.H.) drove home Votto to cut the Owls' deficit to two.  

Loda collected her eighth win on the year as she distributed seven hits and a run over her seven innings pitched.  The sophomore struck out two batters on the afternoon. Emily Bradway (Stafford Springs, Conn.) took the loss for the Owls as the freshman allowed three runs on five hits.

Nelson, Webb and Moquin all had multi-hit games, as Nelson produced two runs, while scoring once herself.  Webb notched an RBI on the outing. Votto was productive for the Owls as she contributed two hits in three at-bats, and was Keene's lone runner to cross the plate.  Jennifer Galavotti (Marian, Mass.) pitched in with two hits.

Springfield 11, Keene St. 3 (6 innings)

For the second game in a row, Nelson found her way on base with a leadoff hit after she ripped a double to left. Webb then singled down the right-field line to score Nelson from second.  Two batters later, Morin and Webb advanced on wild pitches.  That would set up a RBI single to left which scored Morin for the second run of the game.

Keene State rallied in the third with a leadoff single from Aliza Guerre (Fairfield, Conn.), before the sophomore stole second, and advanced to third after a wild pitch for ball four to Galavotti.   The Owl's created havoc on the base paths as Galavotti took off for second and the throw down was unsuccessful.  Guerre scored on the play to put the score at 2-1.

The Owl's would add one more run in the fourth to tie up the ball game at 2-2 after Heather Pelletier (Auburn, N.H.) singled with two outs, followed by a triple from Brittany DaMota (Monroe, Conn.) to easily score Pelletier from first.

After scoring a pair of runs in the bottom half of the frame, the Pride would put the game away with four runs in the fifth, as Polana blasted a two-run home run over the left-center field fence to give Springfield a 6-2 lead.  After a double steal, Morin singled to center to allow Gonzalez to score from third.  The Pride would move into the sixth with the comfortable 8-2 lead.

Keene answered with another run in the sixth when Votto scored Shae Crosby (Salem, Conn.) from third, but that would be all for the Owls.  Springfield would exhaust the game in the bottom of the sixth after a RBI double from Pavadore and a two run single to left from Polana, claiming the 11-3 victory.

Camdyn Morgillo (West Haven) notched the win as she pitched three innings, only allowing one run on five hits.  Nicole Cring (Cooperstown, N.Y.) pitched two innings of relief, allowing four hits for two runs.  Jordyn Moquin (Southington, Conn.) completed the game, retiring the three batters she faced.

Morgan Fallon (Reading, Mass.) suffered the loss for the Owls as she gave up eight runs on six hits in her 4.2 innings of play.