EASTON, Mass. (April 24, 2015) – Five ravens gathered up hits on Friday afternoon, but each only gathered up one apiece as the Franklin Pierce University Ravens softball team fell to the Stonehill College Skyhawks by a final score of 6-1 at Gartland Field.

With the loss, the Ravens drop to 7-18 on the season (7-14 Northeast-10) while Stonehill improves to 19-13 (12-7 Northeast-10) and remain towards the top of the Northeast Division standings.

The game featured a fantastic pitching duel between freshman Aubrey Bianco (Marlboro, N.Y.) and Sarah Ropiak. Each tossed four scoreless innings, scattering only a few hits along the way. Each team only managed to get one runner to third base in those first four innings.

Ropiak would get a scoreless fifth inning as well, sending down the Ravens after a leadoff single from sophomore Mikaela Ballmer (Birdsboro, Pa.). She was only able to get to third base as Ropiak pitched around the threat. The Skyhawks would then find a way to crack through in the bottom of the fifth.

They did so in a big way, putting up a six-run bottom of the fifth. With Bianco still in the circle, Ropiak would get her chance at the plate and deliver a leadoff single. After a fielder's choice to get an out, Bianco would give up a single and a double, scoring one run and breaking the ice by giving Stonehill the 1-0 lead.

They weren't done, as Bianco would give way to junior Tricia Hansen (Mansfield, Mass.) to take over. Hansen would get an out in her first batter she faced, but was unable to lock down out number three. Cassondra Squeri stepped up and knocked a two-run double, pushing the Stonehill lead to 3-0. With only Squeri on base, Megan Ruonavaara would get a single, moving Squeri to third. To cap off the inning, the next batter, Alison Sumski smashed a three-run round tripper to make the score 6-0. Bianco would come back to the circle and record the third out on the next better to end the inning.

That score would stand until the top of the seventh, as Franklin Pierce would notch one run on the scoreboard. As both Erin Wood (Dover Plains, N.Y.) and Ballmer each reached on an error, followed by a single by junior Courtney Caputo (Stony Brook, N.Y.), freshman Samantha Bonvino (Milford, Mass.) delivered a single of her own off of Ropiak to score Wood. That would be all the Ravens could muster on the afternoon.

Ballmer, Caputo, and Bonvino accounted for three of the five hits for the Ravens, while graduate student Jamie Wiley (Cape Vincent, N.Y.) and freshman Cassidy Sorenson (Billerica, Mass.) collected the other two. Ropiak grabbed the win, her 11^th of the season, in the circle for Stonehill going all seven innings, while the loss went to Bianco, pushing her record to 0-5.

The Ravens will conclude their season tomorrow, Saturday, April 25 when they travel back to Stonehill for a doubleheader starting at 12 p.m.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce softball apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' brand new online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).