It was a chilly home opener at Raider Diamond for the Rivier softball team Friday. (Courtesy photo by NIck Grace/Rivier Athletics)

NASHUA – The Rivier softball team opened its home slate with a split against non-conference opponent Fitchburg St. on Friday evening at Raider Diamond.

The Raiders rallied to win game one in extra innings, 9-8, before dropping game two, 11-2, in six innings.

Rivier now sits at 7-7 overall while Fitchburg St. now owns a 4-8 record.

Next up, the Raiders will travel to Elms for their Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) opener on Thursday, March 28 with game times of 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. at Condon Field.

Rivier 9, Fitchburg St. 8 (8 innings)

Fitchburg St. struck first in the top of the first as Sarah Cahill knocked in a run with two outs to put the visitors up 1-0. Sydney Greeno was then able to get out of the bases-loaded jam with a flyout.

Rivier took its first lead of the game in the bottom of the third as Kyleigh Burtsell hit a ball up the middle scoring Kylee Caetano before Avry Nelson crossed the plate on an error.

Hayleigh Silva’s slap hit up the middle increased the Raiders’ lead to two in the bottom of the fourth as Christina Panagiotopoulos scored from third.

The visitors put together a four-run top of the sixth as Molly Grass, Dana Cisowski, Isabella Sousa, and Jessica Mueller each recorded an RBI to take a 5-3 lead.

In the top of the seventh, Grass blasted a two-run homer to center field to improve the Falcons’ lead to four. The margin increased to five as Mueller recorded an RBI single with two on and two outs later in the frame, making it 8-3.

The Raiders put together a five-run rally of their own in the bottom of the seventh to tie things up at 8-8. Ally Gerardi, Hayley Rapaglia, Panagiotopoulos, and Sophia Quinlan each pushed runs across the plate to force extra innings.

After the Falcons stranded two baserunners in the top of the eighth, Rivier’s Silva hit a triple to right center and scored on a relay throw that went out of play to give the Raiders the win.

Hailey Berube earned the victory after coming in for 2.2 innings of relief, allowing seven baserunners and retiring eight Falcons batters, three by way of the strikeout.

Fitchburg St. 11, Rivier 2 (6 innings)

The Falcons soared out to a 6-2 lead after five innings and put up a five-spot in the sixth, coasting to a win by way of the mercy rule.

Both Olivia Couto and Kyleigh Burtsell went 2-for-4 in the final game of the twinbill.

SCHEDULE CHANGES

Besides playing the softball doubleheader Friday, due to the inclement weather Rivier Athletics has made further changes to the upcoming schedule:

The men’s lacrosse game versus Dean, originally scheduled for Saturday, March 23 at noon, has been pushed to Sunday, March 24 at noon at Merrill Field.

The baseball game at Lasell, originally scheduled for Saturday, March 23 at 6 p.m., has been postponed to a date and time to be determined.

The baseball doubleheader at Albertus Magnus, originally scheduled for Sunday, March 24 at noon and 3 p.m., has been rescheduled to a single nine-inning game on Monday, March 25 at 3:30 p.m. at Rochford Field.