WILMINGTON, Del. (5/12/23) – In one of the hardest fought games one will ever see, the No. 6 Franklin Pierce softball team saw its record-setting 2023 season come to a close with a battled-out 6-2 loss against familiar name, No. 7 Pace University through 11 innings of play. 

It was nothing short of a pitchers dual from start to finish between the familiar NE10 foes, as starters Sabrina Gonzalez (Chandler, Ariz.) and Gisselle Garcia. Abigail Borino registered the first hit of the afternoon for Pace in the top of the first, but would fail to deal any damage.

Through the first four innings of the game, the Ravens would come up empty in the hits department while the Setters connected for four connections in total. Up to that point, the game's best scoring chance came in the third inning when senior outfielder Gwen Pedersen hit a single to right field, pushing a runner already stationed at first all the way to third, placing two in scoring position. However, the threat would be extinguished by a fly-out to center.

The Ravens would spoil the no-hitter in the sixth on an infield base hit to the shortstop by senior catcher Haley Melchert (Lake Orion, Mich.), who would be swapped out on the bag for junior Molly Magnette as a pinch runner. Magnette would then steal second, but advance no further as the Pace defense stood firm. The Raven defense would also continue to play the shutdown game, as the Setters would leave one batter stranded in the top of the sixth.

After one hit apiece in the seventh, the scoreless stalemate would continue past regulation as the teams would play through scoreless eighth, ninth and tenth innings. Then, in the 11^th inning, the Setters used everything they had left to take a sizeable 6-0 lead following, beginning with a walk with the bases loaded. To follow, Pace's Alexa Borino plated a second run for the Setters after reach on a Raven error, which then led to a two-RBI base hit to center by Gwen Pedersen. Senior Carolina Itturiaga would then take advantage of another Raven defensive miscue to score the fourth run of the inning for Pace, with sophomore Brianna Shea completing the inning with another RBI single.

The Ravens would not come up empty handed, as they plated two runs in the bottom half of the extra frame. With two outs, and two runners on, sophomore Bella Williams (Phoenix, Ariz.) stepped up to the plate and hammered a double to deep center field to score freshman runners Savannah Arreguin (Pacoima, Calif.) and Amy Jones (San Diego, Calif.) to shave the Pace lead down to 6-2.

That would be all for the action, as the Setters eliminated the Ravens with the win.

From the circle, Gonzalez was stellar through a whopping 10.1 innings of work, during which time she surrendered one run on nine opponent hits, along with two walks and three strikeouts. Junior Samantha Sylvester (Morris, Conn.) took the circle in the final inning to complete the hard-fought effort for the Ravens.

Pierce completes the 2023 season with a new program record in single-season wins (32), which also saw multiple individual records fall as the program finished 32-20 (16-8 NE10) overall.