by Tom Utescher In the first game of Sunday’s season-ending home doubleheader, the Chestnut Hill College softball squad was the victim of visiting pitcher Kaitlynn Nelson’s one-hitter and fell, 9-0. Surpassing that hit total in the first inning of their second game against the Setters of Pace University, the CHC Griffins earned an early 2-0 lead. Falling behind 4-2 in the top of the fourth inning, Chestnut Hill got back within one run in the fifth frame, but another four-run burst of offense carried the Setters to an 8-3 victory. A day earlier CHC had wrapped up play in its own Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference with a doubleheader split against visiting Nyack College. The Griffins’ final mark within the CACC was 9-17, and after the two Sunday contests, CHC retired for the season with an overall record of 12-42. Pace headed back to Pleasantville, N.Y. with a 26-14 mark and definite plans for the postseason. While they were in the midst of the twin bill in Chestnut Hill, the Setters learned that an outcome elsewhere had resulted in their becoming the Northeast-10 Conference champion. The ace of the Pace staff, Nelson (one of nine Californians on the team’s roster) overwhelmed the Griffins in Sunday’s first game. She struck out eight batters while walking two as the other Setters played error-free ball behind her. Nelson retired the first 12 Chestnut Hill batters she faced, then gave up a single to freshman Brielle Riotte, who led off the for Griffins in the fifth. Next, two walks were sandwiched around a ground-out, loading the bases for the home team. Nelson got herself out of her own jam by striking out the following two batters, ending the game through the mercy rule. The Griffins began the second game in a much more auspicious manner, with freshman hurler Nichole Eberhard notching a strike-out as the Griffins sent the Setters down in order at the top of the first. With one out in the bottom half another CHC rookie, Ariel Magee, sent the ball bouncing to the fence in left centerfield for a double. She reached third on a line drive to shallow left field by junior Corie Apodaca, then freshman Alex Sauer got an RBI with a sacrifice ground-out to the left side. Yet another first-year Griffin, lead-off hitter Lily Winn, started off the bottom half of the third with a homer down the line in left field, with the ball passing less than a yard inside the foul pole. Apodaca doubled later in the same batting stint, but the Griffins couldn’t get her home after Sauer sacrificed her to third. Pace finally got its offense going at the top of the fourth. With one out, a double and three consecutive singles pushed home two runs, and then two more crossed the plate on a sac fly and a passed ball. At the end, freshman Hunter Irvin took over in the CHC circle to face one batter and secure the third out. After the score remained 4-2 through the top of the fifth, Chestnut Hill had senior Sofia Cedrone single through the right side with one out in the bottom half. She was nabbed at second as Magee made first on a fielder’s choice ball, and then Magee came all the way back to the plate when the productive Apodaca logged her third hit, aiming her second consecutive double to right center. The Griffins were back within one run of the leaders (4-3), but they wouldn’t score again. Pace reinforced its lead by engineering another four-hit, four-run stint with the sticks at the top of the sixth. Thanks in part to a double play that ended the sixth frame, the Setters only allowed the minimum of six CHC players to enter the batter’s box in the last two innings.