Bishop Guertin's Gabby Gillette, left, gets mobbed by her teammates as she heads to home plate after hitting a two-run homer in Saturday's Division I quarterfinal win at BG's Elliott Field Saturday. (Photo by Nicholas Perenick)

NASHUA – After falling behind 1-0 in the top of the second, Gabby Gillette’s two-run shot over the fence in left field in the bottom half proved to be the difference as No. 11 Bishop Guertin held on for a 3-1 victory over No. 14 Portsmouth in the NHIAA Division I quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon at Elliott Field.

“They (Portsmouth) made some great plays,” said BG coach Dakota Bilodeau. “We had a lot of barrels that got caught, but the few that didn’t definitely helped us, and when you hit it over the fence, that definitely helps too, so props to Gabby (Gillette) for getting it over the fence and helping the team out.”

The upstart No. 11 Cards (12-8) will head to Plymouth State’s D&M Park for a semifinal round matchup against No. 2 Winnacunnet who staved off an upset bid with a 3-2 win over No. 7 Salem. In the lone matchup of the year between the Cardinals and the Warriors back on May 7, Winnacunnet came away with a 10-1 win in Nashua.

Yesterday the Cardinals added insurance in the third thanks to a Mack Bowen RBI single to center which scored Sophie Bilodeau.

Bowen came in to complete a two-inning save in which she allowed three hits, no walks, and no runs while striking out four Clippers batters. Jenny Davey was credited with the win for Bishop Guertin, going five strong allowing four hits and one earned run with three strikeouts. Neither Cardinal pitcher allowed a walk in the contest.

“They’re awesome,” Bilodeau said about her pitchers. “Both of them are workhorses and we have a third if we need her too. All three of them work really, really hard. They did a good job in hitting their spots and getting the job done.”

The Clippers finished the season at 6-14. They stunned No. 3 Concord to get this far, but that also gave BG the home game at cozy Elliott, which Gillette certainly loved. But Portsmouth kept it close.

“Obviously, beating Concord was their high point of the season and that’s something they’ll never forget,” Portsmouth coach Sandy Dewing said. “They fought well today, and the ball just didn’t go our way.”