The Saint Anselm Hawks softball team continues to see positive results as they extended their win streak to eight in a senior day two game sweep of the Bentley University Falcons.

Senior day took place on Saturday April 21, following a 7-6 victory over Bentley the day before. The Hawks took their first of two senior day games by storm, defeating the Falcons with a score of 9-1. The second game of the day was much closer and ended 2-1 for another Hawk victory.  

In game one, freshman pitcher Courtney Fisher had another solid start, picking up her third straight win. Fisher struck out four and did not give up one earned run while on the mound.

Saint Anselm found great success from their offence as their bats were on fire in their first game of the day, as they totaled a whopping 13 hits. The bats started to heat up in the second inning as sophomore outfielder Shannon Colson tripled to start the inning.

The Hawks would go on to score four runs on five hits. The scoring was not done for Saint Anselm, as they picked up another run in the fourth to extend their lead to 5-1 after letting up an unearned run in the top of the inning. The Hawks peppered Bentley and forced a run-rule win with the help of RBIs from seniors outfielder Amanda Bickford and catcher Megan Murrell to take the 9-1 victory in the sixth inning.

Saturday’s second game was a change of pace compared with the first. The score did not rapidly change as the innings went up and down.

Freshman pitcher Abbie Murrell took the mound in game two and threw for the complete game, allowing only one earned run. Unlike game one, the Hawks’ bats were relatively quiet for most of this game. Bentley would strike in the sixth inning, putting up one run to take a 1-0 lead in what was a pitching duel.

However, when the Hawks needed their bats to get hot the most, it happened. Senior first-basewoman Shannon McLaughlin started the Hawks’ rally by walking in the seventh inning.

McLaughlin would then advance to second while Bickford would single to set up runners on the corners with one out. Bickford stole second to put the game winning run in scoring position, which set up sophomore Maggie Murphy for her walk-off single to give the Hawks a sweep of Bentley and their eighth straight win.

It was apt that on senior day at Saint Anselm College, many of the seniors on the team made big-time plays to extend the team’s winning streak. Senior day is a very important day for the parents and players, and each were granted with two great team wins. With the sweep of Bentley the Hawks brought their record to an outstanding (31-9-1, 18-3-1 NE10).

The Hawks record is good enough for first in the division. After an impressive stretch, the Hawks faced off against Assumption on Monday April 23. They claimed a 6-2 victory to expend their win streak to nine games.

Saint Anselm will face St. Michael’s on Tuesday April 24 and then finish their regular season off against Stonehill on Friday and Saturday, April 27-28, for a three-game weekend showdown.