STANDISH, Maine – Simmons Softball (22-12, 15-9 GNAC) fell to the Saint Joseph's Monks (28-8, 17-5 GNAC) on both ends of a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) softball doubleheader at Bailey Field on Sunday afternoon.

Connie Grovo hit a non-routine single to send Danyelle Shufelt scrambling home for the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh in a 3-2 triumph. In the nightcap, Saint Joseph's rode the arm of junior pitcher Rae-Marie Copan to a 2-0 victory.

GAME ONE

 
Simmons threatened with two outs in the top of the first, as the Sharks had runners on second and third after junior first baseman Emily Cunningham (Cotuit, Mass.) walked and sophomore pitcher Lauren Backhaus (Windsor, Conn.) doubled to left field. Senior pitcher Kayla Vannah buckled down and induced a liner to third to cease the threat.

 
The Monks got off to a good start in the bottom of the inning, as Shufelt led off with a blooper behind third base, moved to second on a Grovo sac bunt and scored when senior catcher Heather Tripp doubled to left field.

The slim advantage would not last long however, as the Sharks knotted the game with a run in the top of the third. Senior second baseman Cailin Pagel (Dorchester, Mass.) led off the frame with a single to right field, moved into scoring position on a Mikaela Caracciolo (North Attleboro, Mass.) bunt and scored when Heather White (Westfield, Mass.) reached on an error by Vannah. The inning could have yielded more offense for the Simmons, but the the Monks turned a double play to end the Sharks run. 

St. Joe's assumed a 2-1 edge in the bottom of the fourth when junior left fielder Theresa Hendrix singled and scored on an infield groundout by senior designated player Danielle Leavitt. Vannah cruised through the next two innings but hit a snag in the top of the seventh, when sophomore third baseman Alaina DeNoncour (Johnston, R.I.) led off with a blast well beyond the left-center fence to tie the contest at two-apiece.

The game seemed destined for extra play as sophomore right fielder Victoria Ramos opened the bottom of the seventh with a foul out to third and sophomore Kim Jordan followed with a ground out to third base. But Shufelt hit a two-out single to left and hustled into scoring position when the Sharks failed to cover second on the play. Up next was Grovo, who hit a handle-shot spinner between the pitching circle and second base for a single and Shufelt, sprinting all the way, came home to score the winning run.

Vannah improved to 9-4 on the year after allowing two runs (one earned) off four hits and a walk with three strikeouts over seven innings. Backhaus suffers the setback and falls to 13-5 on the season after surrendering three runs off nine hits while fanning seven batters in 6.2 innings of work. 

GAME TWO

Copan and Simmons starter Amanda Cordeiro (Fall River, Mass.) locked heads for 2 ½ scoreless innings before the Monks broke the deadlock with a run in the bottom of the third. Shufelt opened with a triple to right field and scored when the following batter, Grovo, grounded out to short to lift the Royal Blue to a 1-0 lead through three.

Saint Joseph's tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth when Tripp led off by launching her fourth home run of the season, a blast that landed well beyond the left-center wall.

Simmons threatened in the top of the seventh when Victoria Luongo (Medford, Mass.) and Jen Field (Windham, Maine) reached with singles, but Copan worked out of the potential jam with an infield groundout to end the game and post her fourth shutout of the season.

Copan allowed only four hits and a walk with six strikeouts, while Cordeiro suffered the loss after giving up two runs off seven hits with a pair of K's.

Saint Joseph's improves to 14-3 in the history of the series with Simmons College.

Saint Joseph's concludes the regular season with two games versus Suffolk University tomorrow starting at 4:30 PM. Simmons is off until the GNAC Tournament starts later this week.