NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University softball team picked up an important split with second-place Simmons College on Wednesday afternoon in its first games of the season on the NU Softball Field.

The Cadets rallied for a 3-2 win in the opener, before Simmons responded to take Game 2 by a 10-2 score in five innings.

Norwich (8-18, 6-12 GNAC) got an important win to pull even with Mount Ida in the win column for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament.

Senior Corinne Baita (Rochester, N.H.) not only went the distance on the mound to pick up her fifth victory of the season, she also added an insurance run with a RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning to put the Cadets up 3-1 in Game 1.

Baita outdueled Simmons' ace Lauren Backhaus, going all seven innings, giving up six hits and two earned runs while striking out four and walking four as well. She also went 2-for-3 at the plate with the two RBIs to pace the Cadets' offense.

Backhaus went six innings, giving up one earned run and three walks while striking out six to fall to 8-4 on the year.

Simmons (14-11, 11-5 GNAC) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning with Mikaela Caraciollo launching a solo home run over the right centerfield fence for her fourth round-tripper of the season.

Norwich answered back in the bottom of the fourth with RBI hits from Angie Hershberger (Felton, Calif.) and Baita which scored Sarah Perry (New Bedford, Mass.) and Hershberger to give the Cadets a 2-1 lead.

Baita helped herself in the bottom of the sixth inning by driving home senior Melissa Rome (Enfield, Conn.) to make it 3-1 Norwich.

Simmons cut the deficit back to one with a solo homerun by Hannah Cunningham over the left-field fence. However, that's as close as the Sharks would get as Baita forced two ground outs between a single and a walk to end the game.

In Game 2, Simmons used two big innings with six runs in the top of the second and four more in the top of the fourth to take a 10-0 lead on its way to mercy-ruling Norwich 10-2 after five innings.

Cunningham had a bases-clearing double in the top of the second inning to turn a 1-0 lead into a 4-0 advantage for the Sharks. Heather White had scored previously on a wild pitch before Cunningham laced a line drive over the NU left fielder's head and all the way to the fence to score Jen Field, Brianna Rastello and Juliet Nelso.

Caracciolo doubled down the left field line to score Cunningham and then she came across the plate to score on a wild pitch and cap the Sharks' big inning. 

Simmons added four more runs in the top of the fourth to chase NU starter Taylor Morris (Haverhill, N.H.) from the game. Morris took the loss after giving up five hits and seven earned runs while walking eight and striking out two.

Norwich got all of its offense off Nelson, Simmons' Game 2 starter with one swing of the bat by Kassy Kazimierczak (Adams, Mass.). The freshman first basemen crushed a towering home run over the center field fence for her second homer of the year. Baita also scored to cut the deficit to 10-2. However, that's all the Cadets were able to muster.

Norwich will travel to take on first-place Suffolk University on Thursday and then it will close the regular season by hosting the Univ. of St. Joseph on Saturday at 1 p.m. Both are GNAC doubleheaders.

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