Milestone Win For Pallozzi; Fisher Sweeps Brockport; Utica & Stevens Each Split
ITHACA v KINGS
The Ithaca College softball team (18-8) swept a doubleheader from visiting King's College (21-5) on Wednesday afternoon to help the program's head coach reach a significant milestone. The Bombers won the first game 6-5 in eight innings and the second game 7-3. With the win in the first game, head coach Deb Pallozzi earned her 700th career coaching victory at Ithaca. She is just the 10th coach in NCAA Division III history to hit the 700 wins mark, as she has 706 overall victories, and just the sixth coach to win 700 games at the same school.
Ithaca 6, King's 5 (8 inn.)
The Bombers rallied from a five-run deficit to get the win.
The Bombers won it in the eighth inning when Julianne Vincent delivered her fifth RBI of the game to bring in Kelly Robichaud, who reached on an error earlier in the inning.
Ithaca 7, King's 3
Ithaca got started early in the second game as the first three batters reached in the bottom of the first inning and came in to score on a grand slam by Sydney Folk over the right-field fence. Ithaca added two runs in the fourth, one of which came on a solo home run by Rachel Dell'Orto, her first of the season. Another run crossed in the fifth as Dell'Orto singled to bring home Julianne Vincent.
ST. JOHN FISHER v BROCKPORT
The St. John Fisher College softball team picked up two wins over The College at Brockport behind the arm of
Sarah Stefanon, who racked up 26 strikeouts on the day.
Game One: Fisher 2, Brockport 1 (8 innings)
Brockport scored its only run of the day in the third inning of game one to go up 1-0, the Golden Eagles only lead of the day.
In the top of the seventh inning, freshman
Olivia Fusilli hit a solo shot to center field, tying the game at 1s. Stefanon then induced a pop-out, a ground out and a strike out in the bottom of the inning to force extras.
The Cardinals wasted no time in the eighth as
Kayla Goodberlet hit Fisher's second home run of the game which produced the game-winning run.
Game Two: Fisher 3, Brockport 0
The second game of the day, like the first, was close throughout as the Cardinals did not pull away until the final two innings. After five-scoreless innings, the Cardinals posted their first two runs in the sixth inning and scored one run in the seventh, making the game 3-0.
STEVENS v ST. JOSEPH'S (LI)
Senior Molly Herforth did not allow an earned run for the fourth game this spring to lead the Stevens Institute of Technology softball team to a doubleheader split at St. Joseph's College (Long Island) late Wednesday afternoon. Stevens is now 5-25 on the season while St. Joseph's drops to 19-15.
Stevens 5, St. Joseph's (L.I.) 0
The Ducks jumped out to an early lead, stringing four hits together with one out to push three runs across the plate and adding another before the end of the first inning.
Herforth came out dealing as she struck out the first two batters swinging. Stevens added a fifth run in the top of the second inning. Neither team could get more than one runner on base over the next five innings, with the exception of the Eagles putting runners on first and second via a single and walk with two outs in the bottom of the third.
St. Joseph's (L.I.) 8, Stevens 7
In game two, St. Joseph's finally did push some runs across in the bottom of the second. The Eagles loaded the bases with just one out and scored their first run on a walk, then added three more on a shallow single, sacrifice fly and another error to take a 4-0 lead.
Stevens responded immediately as DeFeo led off with a single and came around on a two-out single by Senkevich, cutting the deficit to three. The Eagles got back-to-back singles with two outs in the bottom of the third inning to no avail, but loaded the bases, courtesy of another error, with two outs in the bottom of the fourth and pushed another insurance run across on an infield single.
Stevens was unable to cut into the lead despite benefitting from an error and single to lead off the top of the fifth inning, and St. Joseph's tacked on a sixth run in the bottom of the frame.
The Ducks' bats finally woke up again in the top of the sixth inning, however. Sophomore
Noelle Mulligan led off with a single and came around on a double into the gap by DeFeo-Peterson, who then scored on a sacrifice fly by Spitz to halve the lead. DeFeo followed with a double, advancing Herforth to third base, and Risman-Jones singled to load the bases, still with just one out. Dempsey stepped to the plate and ripped a two-RBI single to left field that scored two and cut the lead to one, but Risman-Jones was caught at third as the pitcher cut off the throw home. Dempsey advanced to third on a wild pitch in the next at-bat and scored the tying run on an error, making it 6-6.
Mulligan singled again to lead off the top of the seventh inning and scored the go-ahead run on a two-out triple by Spitz, but St. Joseph's would rally in the bottom of the inning to win, 8-7.
UTICA v ROCHESTER
The Utica College softball team split with host University of Rochester in non-conference action Wednesday, losing game one 4-3 before rebounding to take the second game 4-1.
Utica 3, University of Rochester 4 (9 innings)
The Pioneers mustered just one hit through the first five innings until reigning Empire 8 and ECAC Player of the Week,
Chelsea Monroe doubled to lead off the sixth inning. Monroe was brought home three batters later as sophomore
Courtney Fitzgerald (Albany, NY/Colonie Central) doubled down the left field line. Then,
Alysa Russell (Mechanicville, NY/Mechanicville) singled to left to score Fitzgerald and
Bridgette Plummer (Saratoga Springs, NY/Schuylerville) to take a 3-1 lead
The Yellow Jackets evened the game in the bottom of the inning as Nina Korn hit a two-run shot to left. The score remained the same through the bottom of the seventh, sending the game to extra innings.
In the top of the eighth, UC had a chance to go ahead with the bases loaded and two outs, but were unable to get a run across the plate. Rochester went on to get the winning run in the bottom of the ninth to earn the 4-3 victory.
Utica 4, U of R 1- (8 innings)
Once again, the game required extra innings as each team could only plate one run through seven frames. Utica was able to score three runs in the top of the eighth to pick up the Pioneers' first win against the Yellow Jackets since 2006.
Dominique Carcone and
Chelsea Monroe were both 2-for-3 in the second game, with Carcone scoring twice. Fitzgerald and
Cassie Smith (Delmar, NY/Bethlehem Central) also added one hit each.
Freshman
Abby Monroe was dominant in the circle for Utica, allowing just one ball out of the infield in the first six innings. She finished with three strikeouts and allowed just five hits.