DUDLEY, Mass. – Limited offense plagued Suffolk softball in its Conference of New England (CNE) debut as the Rams were blanked by Nichols, 7-0, Saturday at the Nichols Softball Field.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 0 | Nichols 7
RECORDS: Suffolk (6-7, 0-1 CNE) | Nichols (5-6, 1-0 CNE)  

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Nichols put the first run of the game on the board in the bottom of the third. With two outs, Allie Silliman singled to right and scored on Bailey Littlefield's double to right to put Suffolk in a 1-0 hole. 
• The Bison doubled the distance an inning later. Like the first, the second run came with two outs when Sydney Hicks laced a double to left center that brought in Riley Chartier, who walked two batters earlier.  
• Suffolk had the opportunity to break onto the board in the top of the fifth as it had runners on first and second with one out. A productive ground out to second by Ava Lanza moved both Rams into prime scoring position, but Catherine Carignan grounded out the pitcher to end the inning and hold the blue-and-gold scoreless. 
• The margin grew to three in the fifth as the Bison capitalized on a couple base hits and a stolen base to put Suffolk in a 3-0 deficit. 
• A two-out really in the bottom of the sixth by Nichols stretched the distance to seven. Madison Scribner's double to right ignited the rally that featured a one-run double by Sillimini and Littlefield, while a wild pitch let one run come in as well. 

PITCHERS PICTURE

• Cynthia Rucinski took the loss as she gave up seven runs, six earned, on 11 hits and five walks with five strikeouts. 
• Olivia Pedro tossed a five-hit, one-walk, one-strikeout complete-game shutout.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Jolie Quintana went 2-for-3 at the dish to be responsible for nearly half of the Rams hits. 
• Ava Lanza, Julia Mills and Claire Basaldua added one hit each. 
• Roma Braid drew the Rams' lone walk on the afternoon. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk moved to 5-8 all-time against Nichols. 
• Quintana stretched her hit streak to eight games. In that span she has 12 hits. 
• Lanza has logged at least one hit in the last six games with 10 hits over that stretch. 
• Basaldula has successfully hit in back-to-back games.

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk looks to bounce back against Nichols in the nightcap this afternoon.