NEWTON, Mass. – April 24, 2022 – The Dean College softball team earned a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) doubleheader sweep at Lasell on Sunday. The Bulldogs won game won 7-6 and game two 10-9 in eight innings. 

Dean improves to 4-21 overall and 3-13 in the GNAC. The Bulldogs will step out of conference on Wednesday to play at Nichols. Lasell falls to 13-19 overall and 5-9 in the conference. 

GAME ONE – Dean 7, Lasell 6

Mackenzie Still gave Lasell a 2-0 lead with a home run in the first frame. 

Then Dean junior Sari Albury (Nassau, Bahamas) led off the second inning with a solo shot to cut the lead in half. 

A sac fly in the third pushed the Lasell lead back to two. 

After juniors Alex Marie (Danvers, Mass.) and Gianna Bencivengo (White Plains, N.Y.) reached on a pair of singles, Albury stepped into the box and belted a three-run home run over the left field fence to put the Bulldogs in front 4-3. 

Dean added two more runs in the fifth on RBI singles from Marie and first-year Shirley Chan (Kowloon, Hong Kong). 

Lasell answered with a run in the bottom of the fifth on Katie Hopkins' second sac fly of the game. 

Senior Miranda Seacord (Cambridge, N.Y.) gave Dean a 7-4 lead with a solo home run in the top of the sixth. 

The Lasers came within a run in the bottom of the sixth, scoring on a bases loaded walk and a wild pitch, but first-year Jessica Stewart (Banks, Ore.) was able to get a pop out to end the threat. 

Each team put a runner on base in the seventh but neither got past first base as the Bulldogs earned the 7-6 win. 

Stewart went the distance in the pitching circle to earn her first win. 

Seacord finished with two hits and a stolen base for Dean. 

After Albury hit home runs in her first two at-bats, she was pitched around in her next two plate appearances to earn a pair of walks. She finished 2-for-2 with four RBIs and two runs. 

GAME TWO – Dean 10, Lasell 9 (8 inn.)

Gianna Bencivengo knocked in Miranda Seacord on a ground out to give Dean a 1-0 lead in the first. 

Lasell took the lead in the bottom of the inning on a two-run homer by Samara Turgeon. 

In the top of the third, Seacord scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at 2-2. With the bases clear, Lasell decided to pitch to Sari Albury this time, after walking her in the first, and she made them pay once again. Albury blasted a solo shot to dead center for her third home run of the day and fourth of the weekend. 

Albury would not see a strike for the rest of the game as she was intentionally walked three more times, including once in the fourth with the bases loaded. The Bulldogs would score five times in the fourth to take an 8-2 lead. 

Lasell battled back with five runs of their own in the fourth to make the score 8-7. 

The home team completed the comeback in the fifth with a home run by Hopkins. 

Neither team put a run across in the next two innings to send the game to extras. 

In the top of the eighth, Alex Marie had an RBI double and then scored on a Shirley Chan single to give Dean a 10-8 lead. 

Lasell got a run back in the bottom of the eighth, but Dean junior Zoe Coleman (Warwick, R.I.) closed the door inducing a fly out to center. 

Albury was 1-for-1 with a home run and four walks to complete a perfect day (3-for-3, 3 HR, 3 R, 6 RBIs, 6 BB). Seacord finished 3-for-4 with three runs, an RBI and a couple of stolen bases. Marie also had three hits and two RBIs. 

Coleman earned the win with 4.2 innings of relief and two runs (1 earned) on five hits.