Stevens Wins 5-2 Against Nazareth
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Third-seeded Stevens won its first E8 post-season tournament game with a 5-2 decision against fourth-seeded Nazareth College on Sunday.
The Ducks rallied from down 2-1, with two runs in both the sixth and seventh innings to hand Nazareth the loss. Stevens will take on Ithaca in the next game, with the winner advancing to the championship contest against second-seeded St. John Fisher. The Ithaca/Stevens winner will need to defeat Fisher twice to earn the title.
Stevens improves to 24-16, while Nazareth finishes the season at 19-15.
The game initially began on Saturday, with Stevens scoring one run in the first inning off an
Oliva Gemma double, only to have the game postponed to Sunday due to inclement weather.
After not recording a hit in the first three innings, Nazareth registered two in the fourth to push one run across. Following a walk by
Marissa Tortora,
Stephanie Mongelli singled for the Golden Flyers first hit. As the next batter, senior
Nicole White ripped a single up the middle to score Tortora, tying the game at 1-1.
Nazareth took its first lead of the game an inning later, making Stevens pay for an error in the outfield.
Sarah Papponetti would have been the final out of the inning, but a dropped fly ball brought Tortora to the plate. The sophomore shortstop singled to score
Delaney St. George, giving Nazareth a 2-1 lead. The Golden Flyers left the bases loaded in the inning which would prove costly.
The Ducks scored two runs in the sixth to re-gain a one-run advantage.
Emily Sellitti led off with a single, but was still on base with two outs when
Cara Napolitano worked a walk.
Amanda DiLeo came through with a big two-out, 2-RBI double to right field that flipped the score to 3-2, Ducks in front.
Stevens added two insurance runs in the seventh when
Samantha Schattin and
Farryl Groder singled and came around on
Corinne Loncar's 2-RBI triple to make the count 5-2.
Christine LaRochelle earned Stevens' first Empire 8 Tournament win in the circle in 10 tries with a complete-game effort. She allowed just one earned run, struck out four and did not allow an extra-basehit.