Spitz On-Base Streak Ends at Nine as Softball Drops Two at Richard Stockton
Mark Becker
GALLOWAY, N.J. (April 18, 2013) – Freshman second baseman Sydney Spitz (Shelton, Conn.) ended her team season-high on-base streak at nine games as the Stevens Institute of Technology softball dropped a doubleheader at Richard Stockton College on Thursday afternoon.
Richard Stockton improves to 23-8 while Stevens falls to 5-27.
Richard Stockton 3, Stevens 1
The day started with a pitcher’s duel as neither team could get a runner even as far as second base. That changed in the top of the third inning as Spitz reached first on an error, stole second and came around to score on a single by freshman left fielder Gavriella Risman-Jones (New Boston, N.H.) to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead.
Richard Stockton answered right back in the bottom of the frame. The Ospreys drew a leadoff walk before senior Molly Herforth (Pompton Plains, N.J.) put the next two batters away on a bunt foul out and pop-up to shortstop, but a pair of singles loaded the bases and Herforth walked in the tying run.
The Ducks had another chance to score in the fifth inning as they put runners on the corners with two outs, but a line shot to left field by junior third baseman Stephanie Senkevich (Washington, N.J.) ended the inning. The Ospreys then put runners on second and third base with no outs on a leadoff single and throwing error on a sacrifice bunt, but Herforth coaxed a groundout and foul out to get two outs, and a fly out to centerfield ended the frame.
Richard Stockton would finally breakthrough in the bottom of the sixth inning, however. A leadoff walk, fielding error and another walk quickly loaded the bases with no outs and a double down the left field line scored the two runs the Ospreys needed, although the third base runner was gunned down at home on a relay by Senkevich from Risman-Jones. Spitz kept the Ducks’ hopes alive as she led off the top of the seventh with a single and moved to second as Risman-Jones joined her on the base paths via a bunt single, but a lineout to second base started a double play to end the game.
Risman-Jones led Stevens with her ninth multi-hit game of the season while freshman right fielder Kelsey Dempsey (Broomfield, Colo.) also reached base twice, going 1-3 with a double and a hit-by-pitch. Herforth gave up two earned runs on just four hits, four walks and one hit-by-pitch while striking out one. Spitz extended her team season-high on-base streak to nine games with her seventh-inning single and Senkevich was hit by a pitch for the eighth time this spring, making her the 30th-most frequently hit player in Division III.
Junior right fielder Rachel Forte (Vineland, N.J.) led the Ospreys, going 1-2 with a walk and the go-ahead two-RBI double and scoring the tying run earlier in the game. Sophomore Brittany Ksiezopolski (Hillsborough, N.J.) did not surrender an earned run over her six inning, picking up the win after allowing six hits and two hit-by-pitches while striking out three. Junior Michelle Pietrocola (North Brunswick, N.J.) earned the save, allowing one hit in her inning of work.
Richard Stockton 7, Stevens 0
Junior shortstop Danielle DeFeo (Andover, N.J.) led off Game Two with a single but a pair of opo-ups and a strikeout left her stranded on first base. Richard Stockton quickly took charge, scoring once in the bottom of the first inning and adding two more runs on a triple in the second to lead 3-0.
DeFeo singled again in the top of the third, this time with two outs, but Pietrocola struck out the other three Ducks who came to the plate in the inning on her way to a 10-strikeout, four-hit shutout. Stevens’ only chance to get on the board came in the top of the fifth, when a leadoff single by freshman designated playr Oriana DeFeo-Peterson (Patterson, N.Y.) led to runners reaching second and third base with just one out, but a pair of soft groundouts kept the Ducks from scoring. Richard Stockton, meanwhile, tacked runs on in the third (one), fifth (one) and sixth (two) innings to close the day out with a 7-0 victory.
DeFeo was 2-3 for her 11th multi-hit game of the season while Dempsey and DeFeo-Peterson got the Ducks’ other hits. Sophomore Brianna Sandone (Haddon Township, N.J.) surrendered four earned runs on 11 hits, three walks and a hit-by-pitch while striking out four over six innings.
Four Ospreys recorded two hits apiece, led by junior catcher Nicole Chabak (Marlton, N.J.), who doubled, walked once, scored twice and drive in one run while also stealing a base.
Head Coach Erica Mehalick and the Ducks (0-8 in conference play) will head upstate for Empire 8 Conference doubleheaders at Elmira College (15-7, 5-3) on Saturday, April 20 at 1 p.m. and Utica College (19-9, 5-3) on Sunday, April 21 at 1 p.m.