STANDISH, Maine -- #3 Simmons softball defeated the #6 Norwich University Cadets 1-0, and fell to the #2 Saint Joseph's College Monks Friday afternoon at the Richard W. Bailey Field at Saint Joseph's College. With the split, the Sharks drop into the losers bracket of the double elimination Great Northeast Athletic Conference tournament.

In the first game, the Sharks and Cadets went five innings without a run in a pitching dual by Corinne Baita and Simmons freshman Lauren Backhaus (Windsor, Conn.). In the sixth inning, Emily Cunningham (Cotuit, Mass.) singled to center field and Amanda Gould (Kingston, N.H.) followed suit with a single to left field to set the Sharks up to take the lead. Christina Mulcahy (Cambridge, Mass.) broke the stalemate with a single to left center, driving in E. Cunningham for the winning run.

The Cadets loaded the bases in the top of the seventh for Briana Day in one final attempt but Backhaus was able to get a pop fly to shortstop Hannah Cunningham (Cotuit, Mass.) who made the catch for the win. Backhaus pitched a complete game, recording 13 strikeouts for the Sharks.

In the second game, the Sharks faced the #2 seeded Saint Joseph's College Monks in a rematch of last Thursday's regular season doubleheader. The game remained scoreless through two but the Monks took the lead in the third with back-to-back home runs by Connie Grovo and Emily Leverone. Theresa Hendrix hit a double to center field and picked up an RBI as Lindsay Moore crossed home plate for the Monks.

Saint Joseph's added one run in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings for the win, 6-0. Monks pitcher Maddie Kluna struck out 13 and walked one for win while Sharks Amanda Cordeiro (Fall River, Mass.) took the loss.

The Sharks face #4 Johnson & Wales University on Saturday, April 28th at 12:00 p.m. at Gordon College in the Semifinals of the GNAC tournament.