PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Junior Jillian Reed tossed a five-hit shutout and junior Mady Lyons socked a two-run home run as the JWU (Providence) softball team rallied back after dropping the opener of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) DH with New England College for a 3-1 win in the nightcap Sunday afternoon at the Scotts Miracle-Gro Athletic Complex.

The win locks up the No. 1 seed in the South Division for the Wildcats (24-12, 15-3 GNAC), who will host a playoff pod next weekend.

Game One: Pilgrims 3, Wildcats 1
The Pilgrims scored once in the second and twice in the third to build a three-run lead. The Wildcats loaded the bases with no one out in the sixth but managed to push across just one run, courtesy of an RBI single off the bat of freshman Morgan Pelletier. In the seventh, the Wildcats had the tying runs on base with one down, but Lyons and senior Caroline Amorelli each flied to right for the final two outs of the game. Senior Katie Scheid saw her eight-game win streak snapped and suffered her first loss since April 4, allowing nine hits and three runs to go with two strikeouts. Sophomore Amanda Madigan collected three hits for JWU.

Game Two: Wildcats 3, Pilgrims 0
Madigan scored the only run the Wildcats would need with a sac fly in the third before Lyons slammed a two-run shot to right three batters later. Lyons and sophomore Macy Pagano in finished with two hits and Reed did the rest, striking out three against only one walk to record her 10th win of the season. The Burlington, New Jersey native faced just four batters over the minimum.