Softball: Lasers' 2022 season recap

NEWTON, Mass. - The Lasell University softball team saw five student-athletes maintain batting averages of .310 or higher during the 2022 season, while pitchers Meghan Theall and Eryn Sheeley combined for 14 wins in the circle.

The Lasers recorded a thrilling 5-3 victory over GNAC-rival Johnson & Wales on April 2. During the triumph, Katie Hopkins went 2-for-3 batting, with five RBIs, two home runs and two runs scored. During the bottom of the first, she slammed a two-run shot, which evened the game at 2-2, and then her three-run blast in the third put the Lasers in the lead for good and stood up as the game-winning hit. Sheeley earned the complete-game win in the circle, only giving up three runs to the eventual GNAC champions.

Lasell recorded a 6-5 comeback victory over UMaine-Farmington at Taylor Field on March 26. The Lasers entered the bottom of the seventh trailing, 5-3, and the unit forced extra innings with an RBI triple and double from Brianna Gendreau and Sheeley, respectively. Emily Mestas connected on the game-sealing, one-run single down the left-field line in the eighth.

The Lasers secured a doubleheader sweep of the Beavers with a 3-1 triumph in Game 2. Theall went the distance and did not allow a single earned run, while Matara Tamzarian blasted the game-winning, two-run homer in the fifth. Gendreau (3 of 4, double, run), Tamzarian (2 for 3, 2 RBIs, run) and Mestas (2 of 3) led the team from an offensive perspective.

The squad swept GNAC-foe Rivier by scores of 6-4 and 9-3 on April 10 in Nashua, New Hampshire. During the doubleheader, Mackenzie Still went a combined 5 of 9 in the batter's box, with four RBIs, two doubles and two runs. During the 6-4 win in Game 1, Theall (3 of 4, 3 RBIs, double) and Mestas (3 of 4, run) led the charge.

Hopkins blasted two home runs, while going 3 of 4, with six RBIs and three runs, during a 15-14 win over Eastern Nazarene on April 13.

During a 9-7 win at Elms on April 27, Hopkins (4 of 4, 4 RBIs, double), Theall (3 for 4, 2 runs), Angelena Piers (2 of 4, 2 doubles, run), Gendreau (2 for 4, 3 runs, 2 RBIs, double) and Mestas (2 for 5, run) led the way. Gendreau tallied her 100th collegiate hit in Game 2 of the doubleheader against the Blazers.

In the GNAC, Gendreau ranked tied for fourth in triples (4), Hopkins finished tied for fifth in home runs (7) and Still was tied for sixth in doubles (13). Ally Kirck and Gendreau checked in at fifth and tied for sixth, respectively, in stolen bases with 15 and 13. Gendreau led the Lasers in hits (46), while Hopkins led the team in RBIs (31) and runs (29). 

Gendreau, Hopkins, Theall, Mestas and Sheeley all batted north of .300, as they combined for 169 hits, 98 runs and 92 RBIs. Hopkins and Sheeley recorded slugging percentages of .603 and .529, respectively. Gendreau led the squad with a .362 batting average.

Director of Athletic Communications Trevor Wenners can be reached at twenners@lasell.edu.

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