NU women's softball team seeks success in postseason

By Alex Gleeson
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

The Norwich University women's softball team is having an outstanding season. The women Cadets finished the season at 23-14-1.

Last Saturday, April 20, 2002, the Cadets' eight-game winning streak came to an end. They lost in both games in the double header that they played to Emerson: 1-0 in the first game and 7-6 in 10 innings in the second game.

The women's softball team is now preparing for the playoffs in the Greater New England Athletic Conference (GNAC) quarterfinals, which starts on April 23. The Cadets will be hosting Emerson College at home at 4 p.m.

After finishing the month of March with a record of 4-10, the women turned it up, and in April finished with an incredible record of 19-4-1.

On March 30 in a game versus Albertus Magnus College, Junior Christine Pariseau went 2-for-3 with two runs batted in, including the game-winner in the eighth inning as the Cadets defeated Albertus Magnus 5-4 on Saturday in the second game of a double-header. She is fourth in the GNAC in earned run average (1.50).

In a double header on April 9th, the Cadets played Rivier College and swept both games.

Sophomore outfielder Heather Hutchinson from S. Barre, Vt., scored the game-winner in the first game, and the Cadets won 3-2.

Christine Pariseau (6-5) went the distance in the first game for the Cadets, recording six strikeouts, while scattering six hits over seven innings.

In the second game, junior outfielder Pariseau from Stratford, Conn., and Julie Sledz scored first inning runs as the Cadets took a 3-0 lead.

Senior designated player Jen Mangum from Schenectady, N.Y., hit a bases-clearing double in the second inning, scoring freshman infielder Sonia Masse, sophomore infielder Heather LaBranche, and Hutchinson to make it 6-0.

Masse drove in a pair in the third as the Cadets led 9-0 after three innings. The game was called midway through the fifth after Rivier failed to score.

Sledz (3-3) won the second game, striking out seven in five innings, including the side, to end the game in the fifth.

On April 13, 2002 the Cadets took on Suffolk in a doubleheader. In the first game freshman infielder Alycia Pushard from Vassalboro, Maine, went 3-for-4 with a double, homerun, three runs scored, and four runs batted.

Christine Pariseau rapped three hits and scored three runs while going the distance on the mound for Norwich, allowing nine hits and five runs while striking out two.

In the second game Pushard went 4-for-4 with a triple and drove in five runs. Heather LaBranche scored four runs for the Cadets in the five-inning affair. Norwich scored eight runs on seven hits and five errors in the first inning.

LaBranche added a run in the third, and Pushard drove in two in the fourth on a triple. In the two games they played against Suffolk, Pushard had seven hits to lead the Cadets.

In the next couple of days the Cadets played another doubleheader against Southern Vermont College. The Cadets won the first game 18-0. Christine Pariseau pitched five scoreless innings, allowing three hits while striking out ten. Senior designated player Christina Kenny, from Monroe, N.Y., went 3-for-3 with two runs scored and two runs batted in. Freshman infielder Julie Sledz drove in four runs on two doubles. LaBranche and Pushard scored three runs each.

In the second game the Cadets pounded the Mountaineers by a score of 43-0; the game was shortened to five innings.

Pushard went 5-for-6 with three homeruns, a double, seven runs scored, and ten runs batted in to lead the Cadets. LaBranche had four hits, including a double, homerun, seven runs scored, and six runs batted in. Kenny went 4-for-4 with two doubles, a homerun, five runs scored and eight runs batted in. Freshman Sonia Masse from Readfield, Maine, limited the Mountaineers to just two hits while striking out five for the shutout.

Freshman Julie Sledz pitched a one-hitter to lead Norwich to a 12-1 win over Daniel Webster in five innings on Thursday.

She also drove in the game-tying and game-winning runs in an 8-7 win over Johnson & Wales on Friday, April 19.

Another freshman, Sonia Masse from Readfield, Maine, hurled a one-hitter in an 8-0 win over Johnson & Wales in five innings in the second game of the doubleheader.

The postseason matchup looks like this for the Cadets: they lost to Emerson by one run each time they played; however, their confidence was boosted by being able to bat around Southern Vermont. The Cadets will have home field advantage and their fans.

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