Elmira, NY – The Elmira College Softball team swept visiting Houghton College, winning 5-2 and 11-0 Tuesday afternoon at Eldridge Park Stadium. The wins improve the Soaring Eagles to 4-0, while the losses drop the Highlanders to 0-14.
In Game 1 the Soaring Eagles scored two in the bottom of the first inning behind the bat of Shannon Nelligan ’14 (Poughquag, NY -- Canterbury). With runners on second and third Nelligan made contact on a ball to left field, which was misplayed by Houghton’s left fielder, allowing the first runs of the day to score. The Highlanders responded in the top of the fourth inning when pitcher Morgan York helped her own cause plating one run on a sacrifice fly to center field.
Mikayla Bean ’14 (Williamson, NY -- Williamson) started the rally in bottom of the fifth hitting a hard hit single past the shortstop.
Katie Dore ’15 (Manchester, ME -- Maranacook) lined the ball to left field and Alex Andrade ’13 (Fairhaven, MA -- Bishop Strong) hit a hot shot to the short corner at third, plating Bean. Sarah Johnson ’15 (Sodus, NY -- Sodus) hit a quick rolling ball to third base as the Highlanders tried to throw out Dore at the plate who slid in safe. Nelligan followed with a sacrifice fly to center field scoring Andrade to complete a three run fifth inning for the Purple and Gold.
EC carried a 5-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning before Susie Black led off with a solo home run to left-center field to bring the deficit within three. However, Johnson retired three of the next four batters sprinkled in with one walk to complete the 5-2 win. Johnson pitched a complete game for Elmira giving up two earned runs on five hits striking out six batters. York pitched six innings giving up three earned runs on seven hits while striking out five for Houghton.
In Game 2 Elmira got on the board first and never looked back scoring 11 runs to earn a shutout victory, 11-0. Katie Hobson ’13 (Guilford, CT -- Guilford) earned the shutout three-hitter pitching five innings, while striking out 10 batters.
Nelligan led the Purple and Gold offensively going 2-for-4 with five RBI’s in the two games. Dore was a force hitting 4-for-7, scoring three runs and knocking in four runners. Andrade was 3-for-4 at the plate, scoring three times with two RBI’s, while Bean went 3-for-5 with a team-high five runs and two RBI’s.