Rivier Falls in First Round of ECAC Tourney

BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Senior Amber Zablowsky (Rochester, Mass.) allowed eight hits and walked none while striking out four, guiding the third-seeded University of New England Nor'easters to a 5-0 win over No. 6 Rivier College in first round action of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III New England Softball Championship, played Wednesday afternoon at Claude Dubois Field.

UNE (28-17) advances to the double elimination phase of the tournament, which will take place on Saturday and Sunday at top-seeded Keene State College. Big Blue is set to face No. 2 Brandeis University (a 9-1 winner in 5 innings over No. 7 Elms College) on Saturday at noon.

The Nor'easters did their damage in early on, scoring two in the second and three in the third. With one out in the second, sophomore Megan Gauger (South Paris, Maine) reached on an error, and scored shortly after on a ground out by senior Stephanie Podolski (Coventry, Conn.). Zablowsky helped her own cause on the next play, lining a single to left that drove in junior Marie Mantelli (Thompson, Conn.) from third.

In the third frame, UNE sophomore Casey Brigham (New London, Conn.) led off with a double to right-center. After a single to center by junior Ashley Gott (Winterport, Maine) put runners on the corners, and the first out of the inning, Gauger made it 3-0 with a single throught the left side. Mantelli drilled a double down the left field line to plate Gott, and following a hit batter, Zablowsky drew a bases-loaded walk to score Gauger for the second time. Rivier's second pitcher of the game, first-year Lauren Beatty (Sherman, Conn.), struck out the next two batters to hold the deficit at five (5-0).

The Raiders got two hits in three of their final four at-bats, including a two-on, no-out situation in the top half of the seventh, but could not get on the board.

First-year Hillary Tarr (North Easton, Mass.) took the loss for Rivier (26-15), going 2 1/3 innings and giving up three earned runs on seven hits. Beatty surrendered just two hits while striking out three in the remaining 3 2/3 innings. Junior Karen Waterman (Rutland, Vt.) registered a team-high two hits on the day for the offense.

Zablowsky improved to 13-2 on the year with the victory, recording her fourth shutout of the season in the process.