WEST HAVEN, Conn. – Junior starter
Kaitlynn Nelson (Ojai, CA/Nordhoff) picked up her second-straight shutout of a Northeast-10 Conference foe on Tuesday, leading the Pace University softball team to a 1-0 defeat of the University of New Haven at the UNH Softball Field. The Setters jump to 8-5 overall and 3-0 in NE-10 play, while New Haven falls to 9-4 on the year and 1-2 against the conference.
Nelson has now gone 14 straight innings without giving up a single run. She allowed just six hits and showed her best control of the season with only one walk en route to her fifth win of the young season. She struck out two batters and did not give up an extra-base hit in the game.
Pace scored the only run of the game in the top of the third inning. Sophomore shortstop
Ashley Lew (New City, NY/Clarkstown High School North) led off the inning with a walk, then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore center fielder
Larissa Labs (Carlsbad, CA/San Marcos High School). She then stole third, and was brought around to score on a ground out by junior second baseman
Haley Hernandez (West Hills, CA/El Camino Real), giving the Setters an early 1-0 advantage.
With the low walk total on the afternoon, Nelson did not find herself in much trouble until the sixth inning. The New Haven third baseman Taylor Luzzi reached on an error to lead off the inning, and then right fielder Tori Schiebe hit a ground ball right over the third-base bag for a single down the line. Nelson walked her only batter of the day in the next at bat, loading the bases without an out. The pressure did not phase her, as she got the next batter to hit a line drive to freshman first baseman
Annie Carberry (Colorado Springs, CO/Pine Creek), who snagged the ball out of the air, then quickly stepped on first for an easy double play. She then got designated player Sierra Cardenales to ground out to short, ending the inning without any damage.
New Haven put the tying run on third with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Nelson once again stepped up under pressure, getting the final batter to hit a grounder right back to the circle, where Nelson made an easy throw over to first to end the game.
Lew tallied the only hit of the game for the Setters, going 1-for-1 with a single, a walk, a stolen base and a run scored. Hernandez knocked in the only run of the game on her RBI ground out in the third.
New Haven started Nicole King took the hard-luck loss in the game, allowing one run on one hit and striking out 10. Six different Charger hitters picked up singles in the game, but none were able to come around and score.
Riding a four-game winning streak, the Setters face a tall task on Thursday, March 24, when they host No. 17 Caldwell University in a doubleheader at Pace Field. First pitch for game one is slated for 12 p.m.
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www.PaceUAthletics.com and follow Pace Athletics on Facebook (
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