CASTLETON, Vt. – Castleton held Thomas scoreless for the opening three innings of play, but a five-run fourth secured the Terriers a 5-1 victory in the North Atlantic Conference Tournament on Saturday afternoon at Spartan Field.

With the loss, the Spartans are eliminated from the tournament and finish their season at 19-12 (10-2 NAC) overall. Thomas (15-22, 8-4), meanwhile, stays alive with the win and will face the loser of game four (Husson vs. New England College) tomorrow at noon. 

Taylor Paquette suffered her fourth loss of the season after giving up five runs (two earned) in 3.2 innings of work, while Katie Gagne and Kayla Wood combined to toss 2.1 innings of scoreless relief. Sonja Morse, on the other hand, picked up her eight win of the season after pitching a complete game with just one earned run. 

Chelsea Grady and Kristi Lawless led the attack with two hits apiece, whereas Gagne went 1-for-2 with a solo home run. For Thomas, Jordan Agger-Barnes went 2-for-3 at the plate with a pair of singles, and Morse added a solo shot of her own.

Neither team was able to get anything going until the bottom of the fourth inning when Thomas' bats came alive with four hits and five runs to take a five-run lead.

Morse began the scoring with a solo shot to left field before Korrie Laren and Agger-Barnes hit back-to-back singles. Emily McKenney was walked later in the frame to load the bases, and Taylor M. Johnson followed with a bases loaded walk to plate the second run of the afternoon.

With the bases loaded two outs, Lindsy Hoopingarner came through in the clutch with a shot to the shortstop that plated another run, and in the next at-bat, Brianna Ware capped off the scoring with a two-run double through the right side to put the hosts ahead 5-0. 

The Spartans got one back in the top half of the fifth, as Gagne smashed her fourth home run of the season to straightaway center field to close the gap back to four.

However, Castleton was unable to complete the comeback, as Morse closed out the game with a pair of shutout innings to secure a 5-1 Thomas victory and eliminate the Spartans from tournament play.