SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - The American International College softball team lost a Northeast 10 Conference doubleheader, 6-1 and 6-3, to defending NE10 and East Region Champion Pace University on Wednesday, April 23.

AIC is now 12-26 overall and 8-18 in the NE10.

The first inning of the opening game was raw chaos. Pace earned a leadoff single by Kara King on a ball that dribbled up the first base line, and Ashley Field followed with a sacrifice bunt attempt that popped up just between third base and the catcher, and the diving effort to catch the ball ended in it deflecting behind the dish, putting runners on second and third. A flyout and a groundout later, the Setters had a 2-0 lead.

AIC followed the exact same tactic, with Isabel Kahli Robinson laying down a bunt single, and Jilien Ayala's sacrifice bunt that followed was so-well executed that the effort to get her out allowed Robinson to take third. A liner to short was then dropped, and Robinson scored to make it 2-1.

Unfortunately, that was essentially it for AIC's offense, which managed one hit the rest of the way in the game, and Pace tacked on one in the third, two in the fourth, and another run in the fifth for the 6-1 final.

Game two was a pitcher's duel through four innings, with Julia Krijgsman and Nikki Chandler going scoreless through 12 outs. The Setters finally broke through in the fifth with three singles to take a 1-0 lead, but Krijgsman helped her own cause by leading off the home half with a base hit of her own, and both Belen Benito and Galilea Pedraza-Payta singled as well, the latter shooting a grounder past the drawn-in first baseman. Ayala hit a fly ball to right field and Robinson and Krijgsman did the work of getting in a rundown, allowing Krijgsman to score the tying run.

The Setters packed the bags in the sixth with one out, but Krijgsman slammed the door, drawing a groundout back to the circle that she calmly threw home and then a bouncer to third. She then followed a Macey Burns walk with one of her own, before Benito delivered a single over the head of the second baseman that scored Burns to put AIC up 2-1.

Unfortunately for the Yellow Jackets, it came unglued in the seventh, as the Setters tied the game on a walk, double, and groundout, before a pair of singles, a hit batter, and a double scored four more.

AIC battled to try to tie the game in the home half, and both Delaney Archer and Ayala walked, allowing Morgan Bemont to single a run home. Burns walked as well, putting the tying run at the dish, but AIC could not bring it home and dropped the 6-3 result.

The Yellow Jackets hit the road for their next six, and open a four-game weekend series at Assumption University on Saturday, April 25 at noon with a doubleheader.