BOX SCORE

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. - Merrimack College pitcher Jill Gagnon fired her second consecutive no-hitter and the fourth-seeded Warriors scraped together a run in the bottom of the seventh as they posted a 1-0 win over No. 5 seed Southern New Hampshire University in the first round of the Northeast-10 Softball Championship Wednesday afternoon.  Merrimack improves to 26-17 overall and advances to play in this weekend's double-elimination round at top-seeded Le Moyne, while the Penmen see their season come to a close at 21-24.

Gagnon, who was the leadoff batter in the seventh, reached when her ball hit to short took a bad hop over the glove of SNHU shortstop Melissa Vitagliano (Bedford, NH) and Vitagliano was charged with an error.  Gagnon would be sacrificed over to second by Monique Gosselin, and after Kara Melillo popped out to short, Warrior pinch hitter Casey Conetta delivered a line single to left that plated Gagnon.

Merrimack nearly took a 2-0 lead in the fourth when Melillo lifted a long fly ball that appeared headed out, but SNHU's Nicole Arpin (Cheshire, CT) made a catch at the fence to preserve the scoreless tie.

SNHU's best chance to score came in the top of the first when the Penmen had two on with two out as Val Martins (Somerset, MA) and Ashley Bernstein (Stoughton, MA) both worked walks.  Gagnon would get Elena Anderson (Salem, WI) to ground into a fielders' choice to end the threat.

Gagnon, who fired a nine inning no-hitter in her final regular season start against Southern Connecticut and threw a one-hitter against the Penmen in a 3-1 loss last Friday, struck out 10 but issued five walks.  Southern New Hampshire's Kelsey Griffin (Scarborough, ME) was the hard-luck loser, surrendering just three hits while striking out five.

SNHU was making its third Northeast-10 Tournament appearance in four seasons.