SOARING EAGLES SWEEP SAINTS 5-4

AND 9-7 IN FINAL GAMES OF 2008

April 30: The St. Lawrence University softball team rallied in each game of Wednesday’s final doubleheader of the season at Elmira, tying the score in the late innings. However, the Soaring Eagles would score in the bottom of the sixth inning in both games, locking up 5-4 and 9-7 home wins against the Scarlet and Brown in the season finale.

 

Elmira finishes the season with an overall mark of 13-13, while St. Lawrence closes at 9-21.

 

After the home team put up two runs in the bottom of the first inning of the opening game off of rookie pitcher Meg Goodemote, St. Lawrence pushed across a pair of runs to tie the score at 2-2. With rookie Laura Byer and sophomore Jennifer Girard in scoring position, first year student Melissa Rogers drilled a two-out double to left to tie the score.

 

The Soaring Eagles would reclaim a two-run lead in the bottom of the fifth on three hits against Goodemote. Caitlin Roman came through for the home team, delivering a two-run single to score Jamie Huntley and Andrea Masiello for a 4-2 advantage.

 

The Scarlet and Brown showed their resiliency in the top of the sixth, putting up two runs to again tie the score at 4-4. Junior Meg Richardson came across when Elmira’s short stop made an error, and Rogers again came through with an RBI single to score sophomore Molly Swan for the tying tally.

 

With Brittnee McGuire on second base and two outs in the bottom of the sixth, it was Elmira’s Jacqueline Gibson that provided the game-winning hit, driving a single to left field that allowed McGuire to come around and score to put the Soaring Eagles on top for good, 5-4. Casandra Fontinell, who allowed four runs on seven hits for Elmira, worked a perfect seventh inning to preserve the victory and improve to 6-6 on the season.

 

Goodemote suffered the loss for St. Lawrence, falling to 5-9 after giving up four earned runs on 12 hits.

 

St. Lawrence would jump out to a quick 3-0 lead in the second half of the doubleheader against Elmira pitcher Stephany Fontinell, scoring three runs in the top of the first. After Swan led off with a double, she scored the opening run on an RBI groundout by junior Lilah Brown. Two batters later, rookie Yessenia Chimelis belted her second home run of the season to put the Saints up 3-0.

 

First year student Rachel Duffany cruised through four innings on the mound against the Soaring Eagles, giving up only two hits in the opening four frames. However, her offense did little to support her through the middle innings, and Elmira made the Saints pay in the bottom of the fifth.

 

The home team scored seven runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to grab a 7-3 lead behind four hits and two

St. Lawrence errors. After plating one run, Katrina Katen jumped on a pitch and nailed a three-run homer to make the score 4-3 in Elmira’s favor. Following a walk and an error, Roman would duplicate Katen’s effort with a three-run blast of her own for a 7-3 advantage.

 

The Saints, down to their last six outs, would rally for Duffany and tie the score again in the top of the sixth inning with four runs of their own. After consecutive singles by Richardson and sophomore Amy Atkins, Swan scored Richardson with an RBI single. Rogers then came to the plate and tied the score with her first collegiate homerun, giving St. Lawrence new life with the score at 7-7.

 

Elmira would strike once again, however, in the bottom half of the sixth to claim the lead for good. With runners on second and third, Katen delivered another clutch hit, this time an RBI single that scored both runners to put the Soaring Eagles up 9-7.

 

Though St. Lawrence threatened with runners on first and second with only one, Fontinell retired both Atkins and Girard to move to 3-6 on the season behind the 9-7 victory. Duffany, who allowed only three earned runs in the contest on nine hits, finished her rookie campaign with a 4-12 record.

 

 

UNION ENDS SAINTS’ WINNING STREAK

WITH 9-1 AND 10-3 WINS

April 27: The St. Lawrence University softball team’s six game winning streak came to an end on Sunday afternoon at the hands of Liberty League powerhouse Union College, who improved to 27-4 (6-0) with 9-1 and 10-3 wins against the Saints (9-19, 2-6) in Canton, NY.

 

The Dutchwomen, who have now won 11 straight games, used 10 hits against rookie pitcher Meg Goodemote to pick up the victory in five innings. The visitors got on the board in the first inning of game one on an RBI single by Megan Kaknis and a two-out RBI double by Lindsay Larabee for a 3-0 advantage.

 

St. Lawrence picked up a run in the bottom half of the inning off of Union’s Ginny Sack thanks in part to a leadoff double by sophomore Molly Swan. Junior Lilah Brown singled home Swan after a sac bunt by rookie Melissa Rogers to cut the deficit to two at 3-1.

 

However, Sack would allow only one more hit the rest of the way, recording two strikeouts and two walks in 5.0 innings to improve to 14-3 on the season. She was given plenty of offense, as the Liberty League’s top-hitting team picked up two runs in the third and four in the fourth for a 9-1 cushion. Kaknis delivered a solo homerun in the third, while Ashley Kovack also had an RBI in the inning.

 

Union closed out game one’s scoring with four runs on three hits and two St. Lawrence errors, with Kaknis adding an RBI single and Larabee hitting a double with the bases loaded to plate three more runs off of Goodemote, who fell to 5-8 on the season with the loss.

 

The opening half of game two of the doubleheader saw St. Lawrence jump out to a 3-0 lead behind seven hits off of Union’s Tiffany Ippoliti while rookie Rachel Duffany kept the Dutchwomen quiet at the plate. The Scarlet and Brown did their damage in the bottom of the third when rookie Yessenia Chimelis hammed a double to left field wall that scored two for a 2-0 lead. The Saints then capitalized on an error by Union’s first baseman to take a 3-0 edge.

 

Union would climb back into the game in the top of the fourth with two runs to bring the score to 3-2. It was the sixth inning, though, that would do in Duffany and the Saints’ chances as the visitors scored five runs on four hits and three errors. Kaknis drove in two runs with a triple, while Kovack singled in another run and two more tallies came across on errors.

 

The Dutchwomen then polished off an impressive come-from-behind win with three runs in the top of the seventh inning to give Sack, who relieved Ippoliti in the fifth inning, her 15 th win of the season while Duffany dropped to 4-11. One of the differences in the contest proved to be runners left on base, as the Saints left nine on the base-paths to Union’s three.

 

Sunday’s games were the last at Saints Softball Field for senior Sheila Rodriguez, who was 1-for-3 in game two against Union. Rodriguez and the Saints will finish the 2008 season on Wednesday, April 30 with a doubleheader against Elmira beginning at 12:00pm.