SETTERS SEASON ENDS WITH
SPLIT AT THE NE-10 TOURNAMENT
PACE DEFEAT #4 UMASS LOWELL/FALL TO TOP SEED LE MOYNE IN
SEMIFINALS
SYRACUSE, NY - The Pace softball ended their season in the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament to cap one of their most successful seasons in school history. The #5 seeded Setters defeated #4 UMass Lowell 2-1 in eight innings in opening round, before falling to top seed Le Moyne College 4-1 in the conference semifinals. The Setters end their season with a 29-19 overall. The 29 wins for the Setters is the third most in school history and the highest season win total since 2004 when Pace posted 26 wins.
In the opener against UMass Lowell, the Setters struck first as Christina Pane (Stony Point, NY/Cardinal Spellman) and Patricia Hurley (Assonet, MA/Apponequet) led off the first inning with back-to-back singles. Pane would move to third on a fielder's choice and scored on a groundout by Trish Allutto (Matawan, NJ/Matawan). The River Hawks score their lone run of the game in the fifth on a solo homerun by Jachael Guanci.
The game would go extra innings with the Setters taking advantage of a Lowell error as Kelly Kinyon (Levittown, PA/Harry S Truman) would reach base on the error. Kerri McLean (Woodhaven, NY/Archbishop Molloy) drew a walk to put runners at first and second. DJ Ketchel (Staten Island, NY/Moore Catholic) drove home the go-ahead run with single to center to score Kinyon. Setter starter Kiryl Shada (Pleasant Prairie, WI/Tremper) would retire the side in order in the bottom half of the inning to advance to the NE-10 semifinals. Shada (14-8) tossed a four-hitter, striking out seven in the eight-inning complete game effort.
The Setters advanced to play top seed Le Moyne College and the Dolphins wasted no time in taking an early lead, scoring twice in the opening inning. The Setters cut the lead in half in the third as Amanda Dague (Spring, TX/Klein Collins) led off with a single, moved to second on a sac bunt and scored on a Hurley double.
Le Moyne pushed their lead back to two runs on a solo homerun by Sarah Reed in their half of the third. The Dolphins would tack on an insurance run in the sixth and would keep the Setters off the scoreboard the rest of the way to advance to the championship round against #2 Bryant.
On the hill for the Setters, Alicia Parlon (Norton,
MA/Norton) (6-4) went 4 2/3 innings, allowing three runs
on five hits and struck out three. Shada would come on in relief,
tossing the final 1 1/3 innings, allowing one unearned run on one
hit.
