Bats come alive again as softball team earns doubleheader split against Monroe
April 18, 2022
The Community College of Rhode Island softball team scored 20 runs in two games over the weekend and showed plenty of fight in a doubleheader split Saturday against Monroe College at Winslow Park.
The Knights won Game 1, 7-4, and went back and forth with the Mustangs in Game 2, falling 20-13 despite a late-inning surge. CCRI continues to produce offensively, having scored 45 runs in its last four games, including last weekend’s doubleheader sweep of Bay Path University.
“I’m very proud of my team,” CCRI softball head coach Paul Mercier said. “The way they fought back was incredible. They could have quit and rolled over, but they didn’t. They showed me a lot (Saturday).”
Freshman centerfielder Hanna Dias (Charlestown, RI) finished 3-for-3 with a double, two RBI, and a pair of stolen bases in Game 1 as part of an 11-hit attack by the Knights and freshman starting pitcher Jillian Serra (Pawtucket, RI) earned the complete-game victory allowing four runs on eight hits over seven innings to improve to 4-2.
The Knights broke it open with five runs on six hits in the bottom of the fifth innings and Serra held on in the top of the seventh after the Mustangs scored twice and brought the go-ahead run to the plate with the bases loaded. Freshman Casey Regine (Cranston, RI) added a double and two RBI in the opener.
Game 2 featured a combined 33 runs on 34 hits and seven errors. Monroe struck first with seven runs in the top of the second, fueled by a pair of costly errors from the Knights. Three more runs in the third, four in the fourth, and three more in the fifth gave the Mustangs a 17-3, but the Knights made it interesting with seven in the bottom of the fifth courtesy of bases-loaded doubles by Regine and freshman Emily McNeil (West Warwick, RI). Samantha Marsella (Rehoboth, MA) pitched a 1-2-3 sixth to keep CCRI within striking distance and the team responded with three more runs in the bottom of the inning to pull to within four before Monroe tacked on three runs – all with two outs – in the top of the seventh to put the game out of reach.
Regine continued her hot hitting in Game 2, finishing 3-for-3 with three runs scored and a pair of RBI, while Dias, Serra, and Emily Gil (West Warwick, RI) combined for six hits, six RBI, and two stolen bases.
CCRI is now 5-12 overall and returns to the field next weekend at Bay Path for a Sunday doubleheader (11 am and 1 pm) in Longmeadow, MA.