Eight Softball Wins on Wednesday
ALFRED
The Alfred University softball team hosted Keuka College in the Saxons' home opener Wednesday afternoon at Harrington Park, sweeping the doubleheader, 9-0 and 14-0.
AU held Keuka to three hits in each game, as both contests were stopped after five innings. The Saxons improved to 11-3 with the sweep of the non-league games.
In the opening game, sophomore
Katelyn Jakobsen struck out eight and walked a pair to improve to 4-0 on the season. Freshman third baseman
Liz Thompson was a double short of hitting for the cycle, going 3-for-3 with a homerun and triple, scoring three times and driving in a pair of runs.
The Saxons led 4-0 after three innings, then broke the game open with five runs in the bottom of the fourth. Junior outfielder
Alyson Hampton scored two runs and senior outfielder
Rachel Guszick drove in three runs with a bases-loaded triple.
The Saxons jumped on the Storm in the second game, scoring eight times in the first inning. AU had seven hits in the inning, five of them doubles, as the Saxons sent 13 batters to the plate.
Junior pitcher
Alison Wickwire went the distance for the Saxons, striking out seven and walking one to improve to 5-1 on the year.
ELMIRA
After a handful of postponements, the Elmira College softball team finally played in their home opener this afternoon as the Soaring Eagles swept a pair of non-conference games against Lycoming College. Elmira shutout the Warriors of Lycoming in game one, 5-0, and then raced to a 9-1 finish in five innings in game two.
Fourth-year standout
Alex Puglisi '14 shined for Elmira today, both at the plate and in the pitcher's circle. The Shelton, CT native went 2-for-3 from the plate today, driving home five runs on a pair of home runs. She also tossed a complete game shutout in game one, allowing just three hits while striking out six batters. For Puglisi, today's shutout win gives her 12 for her EC career.
Also with a standout performance in the circle today was game two pitcher
Emilie Rogers '14. Rogers picked up her second win of the season as she fanned 10 batters, nine of those strikeouts occurring in the first three innings.
Offensively, several players were exceptional at the plate today.
Katie Dore '15 went 4-for-7 in the two games with three doubles and three runs batted in.
Megan Anderson '15 and
Ashley Palmer '16 each drove home a pair of runs on two hits apiece.
Mikayla Bean '14 and
Krystal Bupp '14 both went 3-for-5 today, combining for three doubles and four runs scored.
STEVENS
The Stevens Institute of Technology softball team won their school-record ninth straight game on Wednesday with a doubleheader sweep over in-state rival William Paterson University by scores of 4-3 and 6-2.
Stevens 4, William Paterson 3
Stevens scored in the first inning for the fifth straight game when junior
Jamie DeGennaro doubled-home senior
Danielle DeFeo, who had led off the game with a single. William Patterson tried to answer in their half of the inning by putting runners at first and second with two outs, but senior
Kayla Berardi induced a fly-ball off junior Christina Austin's bat to end the threat.
After a scoreless second, Stevens extended their lead in the third when freshman
Kelly Klewicki singled to left to score sophomore
Gavriella Risman-Jones with the bases loaded. William Paterson freshman hurler Allison Podmajersky answered with a strike-out of sophomore
Sydney Spitz for the second out of the inning, but senior
Stephanie Senkevich was hit by a pitch in the next at-bat to score DeGennaro to give the Ducks a 3-0 lead.
Berardi retired the side in order in the third and worked around a lead-off single in the fourth, but William Paterson was finally able to push-across a run in sixth when junior Kelsey Principe doubled-home senior Laura Henriquez. Down two in the seventh, the Pioneers rallied once again, and tied the game off freshman Nicole Fryer's two-run double to send the game into extras.
In the eighth, Klewicki advanced to third after being placed on second with no one out, and scored off an error from the catcher to give the Ducks the 4-3 lead. In the bottom of the inning, Berardi retired the side in order to seal the Ducks eighth straight win.
Stevens 6, William Paterson 2
Continuing their first inning scoring steak, Spitz reached on a fielder's choice in the first to score DeGennaro who had singled with two-outs. Then In the second, with the bases loaded and two outs, Risman-Jones reached on an error at first which scored Senkevich.
The runs were enough for junior
Brianna Sandone, who pitched scoreless frames in the second, third and fourth, allowing the Ducks to add to their lead in the fifth.
After back-to-back singles from DeGennaro and Rees to lead-off the inning, Spitz was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Sellitti grounded-out into a fielder's choice for the first out of the inning, but Senkevich picked her up with an RBI single to center to score two. The Ducks added one more in the fifth off a DeGennaro RBI single, and another in the sixth off a Sellitti RBI single to score Risman-Jones, giving Stevens a 6-0 lead.
The Pioneers rallied with two in the sixth off back-to-back RBI singles, but Sandone settled down in the seventh, working around a lead-off double to close the door on the 6-2 win.
Senkevich led the Ducks offensively with two RBIs, while DeGennaro added three hits and scored a run. The win was the seventh of the season for Sandone which ties Berardi for the team lead.
UTICA
The Utica College softball team opened its home season on a high note as it downed visiting Union College 14-6 and 12-7 Wednesday afternoon at Greenman Field. The Pioneers totaled 36 hits over the course of the two games.
Game One
Junior
Courtney Fitzgerald got off to a quick start, hitting a gram slam over the right field wall to put Utica up 4-0 in the bottom of the first. UC added four more runs in the second inning as
Christy Traglia hit a two-RBI single and
Alysa Russell followed that up with her first home run of the season.
The Dutchwomen used four runs in the third inning to bring the score to 9-6 in favor of UC, however the Pioneers scored five runs in the fifth inning to end the game in five innings. Traglia and Russell each went 3-for-4 at the plate with three RBI, while Fitzgerald,
Chelsea Monroe,
Cassie Smith, and
Taylor Ellis were each 2-for-2. Senior
Meghan Matan also had one hit and one RBI for the Pioneers.
Sophomore
Erica Colucci gave up five runs in two innings, while classmate
Abby Monroe allowed just one run in three innings of relief.
Game Two
Union jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, however UC answered right back evening the score in the bottom half of the inning off of back-to-back home runs by
Alysa Russell and
Courtney Fitzgerald. Russell again helped Utica come back, this time in the second inning with a three-run shot to knot the score at 7-7. The Pioneers went on to score five more runs over the next five innings to seal the victory.
Russell finished game two going 3-for-3 at the plate with seven RBI. Junior
Christy Traglia was 4-for-5 with one run scored and one stolen base. Senior
Meghan Matan and freshman
Kassidy Ogren were each 3-for-4, while Matan had two steals.
Chelsea Monroe,
Abby Monroe,
Cassie Smith and
Taylor Ellis also had hits for UC.
Abby Monroe and
Erica Colucci combined for five strikeouts and four earned runs in game two.
ITHACA
The Ithaca College softball team (9-5) lost two games to Cortland Wednesday night, falling to the Red Dragons 3-0 and 4-2 in the Bombers' hope opener at Kostrinsky Field.
Game One
Senior
Sam Bender was credited with the loss in game one after allowing three earned runs and six hits. She also picked up two strikeouts in her fourth complete game of the season. Juniors
Francesca Busa and
Monica Capolongo both picked up a singles in the contest. Capolongo also recorded a stolen base.
The Red Dragons jumped out to an early lead with a solo home run in the top of the first inning, sending a shot to left field for a 1-0 advantage. Cortland added insurance in the top of the sixth, hitting a two-run homer to take the 3-0 lead. Ithaca was unable to score in the remaining frames, giving Cortland the 3-0 win.
Game Two
Sophomore
Laura Quicker started for the Bombers in game two. She allowed three hits and two earned runs in 3.0 innings while also recording four strikeouts. Classmate
Allison Macari took over in the circle for the final 4.0 innings. She struck out three and held Cortland to zero earned runs. Freshman
Jessie Fleck went 2-for-2 at the plate with a run scored. Senior
Sydney Folk went 1-for-2 with a single and a RBI.
Cortland carried momentum from game one, jumping out to another 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The Red Dragons added to the lead with two more runs in the third frame, before adding their final run in the top of the sixth to go up, 4-0.
The Bombers answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth, cutting the Cortland lead in half. Fleck led off the frame with a single to right field, eventually moving to second on a groundout by Busa in the following at bat. Senior
Julianne Vincent walked in her at bat, with Fleck moving to third due to a passed ball on the play. With runners at the corners, Folk singled to right field to bring Fleck home from third. Vincent also broke home on the play, scoring due to an error on the Cortland catcher.
Despite Ithaca's rally in the sixth, the Bombers were unable to score again in the contest, giving Cortland the 4-2 win in game two.