Softball concludes 2012 season

RINDGE, N.H. (April 21, 2012) -- The Franklin Pierce University softball team concluded its 2012 season on Saturday as the Ravens were swept by Le Moyne in a doubleheader at the FPU Softball Field in Rindge. The Dolphins took game one, 10-3, and then capped the afternoon with an 8-1 triumph in game two. Franklin Pierce concluded its season with a 9-30 overall record and a 7-23 mark in the Northeast-10, while Le Moyne improved to 26-24 and 20-10 in league play.

The Dolphins exploded for nine runs in the third inning of game one to set the tone for the day. Morgan Edmondson singled home a pair of runs to start the surge and Barb Shea and Demetra Kermidas capped it with a pair of home runs. Kermidas' was a three-run shot which cleared the wall in right field, and Shea's was a grand slam that left the field over the wall in left-center field.

Leah Ford added a solo homer for the Dolphins in the fifth inning to extend their lead to 10-0. Franklin Pierce tried to rally and pushed across a trio of runs with two outs in the bottom half of the frame to cut the deficit to seven. Freshman Alicia Dean (Danvers, Mass.) singled to center to begin the rally, as the hit brought home senior Nikki Pratt (Gardner, Mass.), who legged out an infield single earlier in the frame. Junior Megan Bird (Laconia, N.H.) followed Dean with an RBI single of her own, scoring freshman Alyssa Dolson (Northbridge, Mass.), who reached via a walk. Dean scored later in the frame on an error by the Le Moyne catcher.

The Ravens couldn't muster more of a rally in falling in game one. Le Moyne starting pitcher Sarah Harrison earned the win to run her record to 23-15 on the season as she struck out nine and gave up just one hit over four shutout innings. Rachel Allen (Hull, Mass.) got the start in the circle for the Ravens and suffered the loss to fall to 3-13 after yielding five runs on six hits over two-plus innings.

Le Moyne continued to swing the hot bats early in game two and scored twice in the second inning to go up 2-0. The Ravens, though, countered and cut the deficit in half to 2-1 in the third inning as senior Jayme Bilafer (Concord, Mass.) smacked a one-out double and eventually came around to score on an RBI single from classmate Jamie Verner (Natick, Mass.).

The Dolphins, though, responded and put the game out of reach with two runs in the fifth, one in the sixth and three more in the seventh. Le Moyne's two runs in the fifth came on one swing of the bat from Shea as she launched a two-run homer, scoring Kelcie Cashel, who singled earlier in the frame.

Harrison also pitched game two for Le Moyne and earned the win to improve to 24-15 after she went all seven innings, yielding one run on five hits with six strikeouts. Franklin Pierce freshman pitcher Jessica Colson (Feeding Hills, Mass.) started and lasted just three innings while suffering the loss to fall to 2-8 on the year. She gave up two runs on four hits with a strikeout.

For more information on Franklin Pierce softball, please visit the team's page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens).