Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (Feb. 19, 2016) - The Molloy College softball team began its 2016 campaign by salvaging a split in its first day of competition at the Snowbird Softball Freeze-Out tournament on Friday (Feb. 19) in Myrtle Beach.
Game One: Felician University 3, Molloy College 2The Lions got on the board in the top of the first inning as sophomore shortstop
Brianna Dalton (Northampton, Pa.) drove in a run with a single to second base. Molloy's lead did not last long, though, as the Golden Falcons tied the score on a solo home run by senior Amanda Lopez (Riverbank, Calif.) off of freshman pitcher
Jenna Turato (Franklin Square, N.Y.) in the second. Felician took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth on a wild pitch but the maroon and white tied the score at 2-all in the next half-inning. After sophomore
Bernadette Mullane (Bellmore, N.Y.) hit a one-out single to the left side of the infield, freshman
Tara Byrnes (Huntington, N.Y.) moved her to third base with a single to center field. With runners on the corners and just the one out, Mullane scampered home on a sacrifice fly off the bat of
Ellyn Byrnes (Huntington, N.Y.). Felician would stab another run on a wild pitch in the last-half of the sixth and Molloy was unable to provide an answer.
In total, the Lions left nine runners on base against winning pitcher Ashley Owens (Lockport, N.Y.), who scattered 10 hits over a complete seven innings of work. Turato went three innings in the circle for the maroon and white, with Lopez's homer providing the only run among three hits that the freshman surrendered in her college debut. Junior pitcher
Chelsea Hawks (Wading River, N.Y.) worked the final three innings and recorded the loss, yielding two runs (one earned) while striking out three batters. Dalton and freshman
Katie Polselli (Charlton, Mass.) each had two hits for Molloy in the season-opening affair.
Game Two: Molloy College 5, Lock Haven University 4In the second game of the day, the Lions jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning as Dalton drove home
Milan Botte (Reston, Va.) with an RBI single. Molloy then broke open a four-run fifth inning to claim a 5-0 lead over the Bald Eagles thanks to the 8-9-1 hitters providing a spark. Sophomore catcher
Alexandra Russo (Coram, N.Y.) got the rally started with a single and she advanced on the base-paths when Mullane reached on an error. Lead-off hitter
Ashley Fedor (Monroe, Conn.) would drive Russo home with a single before senior
Tracey Balinskas (Edison, N.J.) belted a three-run round-tripper. Lock Haven broke the shutout in the sixth with a run and then scored three times in the seventh inning but could not plate the tying run as the Lions escaped with their first win of the 2016 season.
Molloy will continue the Snowbird Softball Freeze-Out on Saturday (Feb. 20) with contests against Le Moyne at 10 a.m. and West Chester University at 2 p.m.
