WEST HAVEN, CT- Caitlin McCann (San Mateo, CA/Notre Dame) (San Mateo, CA/Notre Dame) tossed five shutout innings as the Setters held off a late New Haven rally to defeat the Chargers 5-3 in Northeast-10 Southwest Division action.
The Setters improve to 8-16 overall and even their division record to 4-4 in the NE-10 Southwest, while the Chargers fall to 20-7 and 6-3 in division play.
The Setters got on the board in the opening inning with a pair of runs. Shelby Yung (Upland, CA/Upland) (Upland, CA/Upland) led off the game with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Nikole Larm (Brewster, NY/Brewster) (Brewster, NY/Brewster) drove in Yung with a single and scored later in the inning on a Haley Hernandez (West Hills, CA/El Camino Real) (West Hills, CA/El Camino Real) single for a 2-0 Pace lead.
Pace added three runs in the final two innings as Alicia Marino (Mahopac, NY/Pleasantville) (Mahopac, NY/Pleasantville) drove in a run in the sixth on a fielder's choicer. In the seventh, Lana Buchbinder (San Francisco, CA/George Washington) (San Francisco, CA/George Washington) led off with a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Jeane Drury (Flanders, NJ/Morris Catholic High School) (Flanders, NJ/Morris Catholic) singled to put runners at the corners. Buchbinder and Drury pulled off a double steal for the first run of the inning. Larm extended the Pace lead to 5-0 with an RBI single to score Drury. The Setters needed those insurance runs as New Haven rallied with a three-run homerun in the seventh. Kaitlynn Nelson (Ojai, CA/Nordhoff) shut the door on a comeback as the Setters held on for the win.
For the Setters, Larm went 2-for-3 with two RBI, while Hernandez also went 2-for-3 in the game. McCann (4-8) pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings, scattering six hits and striking out five. Nelson went the final 1 2/3 allowing three runs on three hits and struck out one.
The Setters are back in action on Wednesday, April 9 as Pace hosts the Caldwell Cougars in a non-doubleheader starting at 3 pm on the Briarcliff campus.
