Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 SPARKILL, N.Y. (Mar. 22, 2016) - Make it eight wins in a row for the Molloy College softball team; Tuesday (Mar. 22) produced a doubleheader sweep (1-0, 6-5) for the Lions versus Saint Thomas Aquinas College in Westchester County. The maroon and white moved to 13-9 on the season and are an unblemished 4-0 in East Coast Conference play this spring, while STAC fell to 5-10 overall and 0-2 in ECC action.
Game One: Molloy 1, Saint Thomas Aquinas 0The first game was dominated by stellar pitching from STAC's Julie Sosnicki (Wurtsboro, N.Y.) and Molloy's
Chelsea Hawks (Wading River, N.Y.) as both pitchers tossed dueling zeros for six full innings. Getting through the innings proved more difficult for Sosnicki as the Lions got runners on base in five of the first six innings without much in the way of scoring. Hawks, on the other hand, was nearly unhittable as she struck out the side four times (three times in order) and racked up the K's against the Spartans. The Lions were able to break through in the seventh off of Sosnicki to plate the game's only run. After junior
Erin Clinton (Long Beach, Calif.) reached on a fielding error with one out in the top of the inning,
Kaitlyn Snyder (Smithtown, N.Y.) and
Ashley Fedor (Monroe, Conn.) hit back-to-back singles to load the bases. After a fielder's choice took out the runner at home with two outs, the bases were still loaded for
Tracey Balinskas (Edison, N.J.). The reigning East Coast Conference Player of the Year and Preseason Player of the Year delivered in the clutch by taking ball four from Sosnicki, scoring Snyder from third to give Molloy a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the frame, Hawks fanned two more batters to close out her strikeout account at 15---the third-most in a single game in Molloy program history---before getting the final out on a pop up to first base to complete the dominant win.
Hawks faced 24 batters---three more than the minimum---and sent down 15 via strikeout, allowing three hits and surrendering one walk to earn her sixth victory of the season. Sosnicki let up nine hits but only one run and two walks as her record on the season falls to 0-7 with the tough defeat in Tuesday's opening contest. For Molloy, Fedor and
Brianna Dalton (Northampton, Pa.) each had two base hits while Balinskas went 1-for-3 with a walk and RBI in the victory.
Game Two: Molloy 6, Saint Thomas Aquinas 5The second contest proved to be a much trickier outing for the Lions, even if the first two innings caused this game to look one-sided. The Lions batted around in the first inning, knocking freshman starter Brianna Keaveney (New City, N.Y.) from the contest after she got just two outs. The big blows came from the cleanup spot in the order as well as the ninth-place position in Molloy's lineup, as
Milan Botte (Reston, Va.) smacked a three-run home run after Fedor and Balinskas reached on errors. Later in the inning after singles by Dalton and
Alexandra Russo (Coram, N.Y.) and a walk to Clinton, Snyder lifted a ground-rule double that plated two more runs and ended Keaveney's day rather quickly. The maroon and white got another run in the second inning after Russo was forced out at first base but not before Balinskas scored another run to put the Lions up by six. The six-run cushion was enough for freshman pitcher
Jenna Turato (Garden City South, N.Y.) through the first five innings as she surrendered just two hits and a walk by striking out four. In the sixth inning, though, the Spartans made a rally with a two-run double by Danielle DiModugno (West Nyack, N.Y.) to get STAC on the board. The hosts were determined to complete the comeback in the seventh inning, as three runners crossed the plate to cut Molloy's lead to one run. But with runners on second and third and two out, freshman Kelcy McGeehan (Bayville, N.J.) struck out swinging as the Lions escaped Sparkill with the 6-5 win.
Turato went six-and-one-third innings with five strikeouts, as she was lifted in the seventh inning but then re-entered the game and recorded the final out of the contest. The freshman now holds a record of 3-0 on the season. Russo led the Lions with a three-hit day while Botte went 2-for-3 with three RBIs. Snyder had a 2-for-3 outing at the plate as well with two runs driven in. DiModugno led STAC with two hits and three RBIs.
Molloy will look to extend its winning streak on Thursday (Mar. 24) when the Lions take on NYIT in Old Westbury with the doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m.
