RINDGE, N.H. (March 27, 2021) – Looking to continue their early-season success, the Franklin Pierce University softball team took to the field at the Bisaccia Softball Complex for the first time this season on Saturday, for a Northeast-10 Conference doubleheader with Bentley University. A three-run seventh helped the Ravens come back to win the first leg, 6-5, on a walk-off single by freshman Ashley Cangiano (North Attleboro, Mass.). Later, seven early runs pushed the Ravens to a run-rule victory, 8-0, in just five innings in the second game.

With the wins, Franklin Pierce improves to 6-2 (5-1 NE10), while Bentley opens its season at 0-2 (0-2 NE10). The two teams were originally scheduled to meet again on Sunday at Franklin Pierce to wrap up the four-game season series, but Sunday's action has been postponed, due to impending wet weather. No makeup date has yet been set for the remaining twinbill.

Game 1: Franklin Pierce 6, Bentley 5

In Saturday's first game a three-run home run by senior Gina Hinckley (Lancaster, Mass.) in the third gave Franklin Pierce a 3-1 lead in the middle innings. However, Bentley would come up with a three-run bomb of its own, from graduate student Kaileen Cain in the fifth, and took a 5-3 lead into the last of the seventh.

After the first batter struck out, the Franklin Pierce rally started innocently with graduate student Madi Killebrew (Dana Point, Calif.), who drew a walk. Hinckley moved her to second with a single, and just like that, the winning run was at the plate for the Ravens. Freshman Jenna Murray (Wilbraham, Mass.) singled home Killebrew to cut the deficit to 5-4 and put the tying run in scoring position. Junior Allie Martinez (Upland, Calif.) was next and doubled home the runner from second with a shot to center to tie the game, which also moved Murray around to third. Freshman Ashley Cangiano (North Attleboro, Mass.) entered the box and sent a ball back up the middle and into the outfield to bring Murray home and send the Ravens out of the dugout in celebration of a 6-5 win.

Freshman Samantha Sylvester (Morris, Conn.) got the start for Franklin Pierce, worked four hits, gave up five hits, allowed one run and picked up three strikeouts without factoring in the decision. Sophomore Madison Labrie (New Ipswich, N.H.) earned the win (1-0) out of the bullpen after allowing one run on two hits over the game's final two innings.

The loss went to Bentley senior Ashley Keegan (0-1), who came on in the seventh and allowed a single, a double and the game-winning single to the three batters she faced.

Game 2: Franklin Pierce 8, Bentley 0 (5 innings)

Franklin Pierce got the bats working in short order in the second game and put up three runs in the bottom of the second inning. Hinckley crossed home plate first thanks to a two-out triple to right-center by Cangiano. Graduate student Jess Rego (Richmond, R.I.) then sent a ball down the left-field line to double home Cangiano. Rego then came right around to score on another double down the left-field line, this one by Martinez.

Bentley went in order in the top of the third, which allowed the red-hot Franklin Pierce offense to continue to strike. The first three batters of the inning all walked to quickly load the bases: sophomore Hailey Melchert (Lake Orion, Mich.), Killebrew, and Hinckley. Two batters later, Martinez clubbed a bases-clearing double to push the lead out to 6-0. Later in the inning, Cangiano hammered her second triple of the game to right-center and scored on a Rego double down the left-field line.

The game would end via the eight-run rule in the fifth inning, after Cangiano picked up her third hit of the game. This one was only a single, but it brought home senior Jenna Curtis (Orange Park, Fla.) with the game-winning run.

Though she was somewhat outshined by the offense, senior right-hander Cyrena Zemaitis (Goshen, Conn.) breezed through the Bentley lineup with relative ease to pick up the win (4-0) in the second game. Over five scoreless innings, she struck out seven of the 16 batters she faced, did not issue a walk and surrendered just one hit.

On the other side of the ledger, senior right-hander Lauren Calabrese suffered the loss (0-1) for Bentley. She was tagged for six runs on four hits over 2.2 innings, walked four and struck out two.

The Ravens are scheduled to be back in action on Thursday, April 1, for a 3 p.m. doubleheader at Assumption.