Simmons College Softball secured four Great Northeast Athletic Conference wins over the weekend, earning 2-0 and 6-2 victories over Emerson College on Saturday and two 12-0 five-inning wins over Albertus Magnus on Sunday. With three conference matchups behind them, including two wins over Mount Ida on Friday, Simmons extends their winning streak to eight games and takes the top spot in the conference, previously held by Emerson.

Senior Annie Thompson (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) batted .700 over the three days, with 14 hits in 20 at bats including 2 home runs, a double, a triple and 8 RBIs. She also had a 1.200 slugging percentage and a .750 on base percentage. Senior Courteney Collier (Bolton, Mass.) had three wins with a 0.44 ERA, pitched 16 innings with 27 strikeouts and surrendered only 7 hits, holding opponents to a mere .127 batting average. Collier also batted .500 for the season including a solo home run.

"While we are extremely happy to be in first place right now, we are very aware of all the work we have left to do," said Head Coach Anne Hennigan. "With ten conference games remaining, we know the things we have to work on to improve and continue our pursuit of the GNAC Championship. These six wins are going to motivate us to work that much harder as we prepare for another important weekend of games."

Saturday vs. Emerson

The highlight of the weekend came Saturday afternoon when the Sharks took two from previously undefeated Emerson. In the first game, Collier went the distance allowing only 4 hits in 7 innings of work and striking out 11 batters. This was the first shutout of the Sharks' season and it came at the most opportune time. It was a pitchers' duel for most of the game, but the Sharks squeezed out four hits, two of which were solo home runs from Collier and freshman Emily Cunningham (Cotuit, Mass.), which proved enough for the win.

In the second game, Emerson took an early 2-0 lead, scoring a run in each of the first and second innings, but the Sharks cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fifth as Thompson crossed the plate on senior Emily Nalband's (Litchfield, Conn.) hard shot to right field as she was thrown out at first base.

Starting pitcher Sammi Letizio (Windham, N.H.) kept the game close, throwing 5 innings and allowing 6 hits, 2 runs, 1 strikeout and no walks. Junior Sami Hodgkins (Putney, Vt.), who recorded the win, came in the game in the sixth inning and retired all 6 batters she faced in order, which set up the heroics for freshman Christina Mulcahy (Cambridge, Mass.).

In the bottom of the seventh, still down by a run and with one out, Thompson lined a shot down the left field line. Nalband followed with a hard single to right field, advancing Thompson to second. Cunningham followed with a long fly ball to left field that just missed the home run fence, plating Thompson to tie the score at 2 apiece. Collier then hit a hard grounder to shortstop to load the bases and set the stage for Mulcahy. Mulcahy, who was hitless for the day, pulled a 0-2 pitch to deep right center for a walk-off grand slam and secured the Simmons win.

Sunday vs. Albertus

The Sharks were back in action on Sunday afternoon and took both games from Albertus Magnus 12-0 in five innings. Pitching and defense were flawless and the offense was hot, again belting 26 hits on the day.

Looking Ahead

Simmons will travel across town to UMass Boston on Thursday, April 14 for a twin bill, with a 3:00pm start for game one.