Vikings Sweep Pilgrims in Home Opener

SALEM, Mass. – This evening, Salem State softball hosted the Pilgrims of New England College (NEC) for their first home games of the 2023 season. After two impressive showings, the Vikings swept the Pilgrims by scores of 6-5 and 12-7 to improve to 5-7 on the young season.

Game 1

• Rebecca Walker (Lynn, Mass.) got the bats started for the Vikings when she singled down the right side before a Sydney Rodriguez (Brighton, Colo.) single sent Walker home for the first run of the game. Salem would tack on one more run to head into the second inning ahead 2-0.
• • The Pilgrims evened the score in the top of the fourth when Destiny Helmedach (Middlefield, Conn.) doubled in a run before scoring herself to tie the game at 2.
• NEC would find their first lead in the top of the fifth, but on the bottom half of the same inning Walker scored on a fielder's choice to bring the score to three-all before they were able to reclaim the lead in the bottom of the sixth to enter the final inning with the 4-3 tilt.
• In the top of the seventh, Helmedach would launch the ball over the left field fence to notch the Pilgrims' second run of the inning and bring the score to 5-4 in her team's favor. However, in the bottom half of the seventh Dawn Eisnor (Medford, Mass.) singled to the right side to bring one run home before  Mackenzie DeSantis (Ridge, N.Y.) pulled out the heroics with a walk off double that would send Eisnor home to take the 6-5 victory.

Game 2

• The Vikings' offense came alive to start the second game of the night after exploding for six hits and the same amount of runs in the opening inning.
• The Pilgrims mounted a comeback in the second after four runs brought them in striking distance of the home team, but Eisnor was able to distance the Vikings once again after sending Rodriguez home to send the game into the third inning with the 7-4 advantage.
• Both teams scored three runs in the third inning, keeping Salem's three-run advantage alive going into the fourth.
• The Vikings would go onto notch three more runs while holding the Pilgrims run less to take the eventual 12-7 victory.