Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Apr. 10, 2016) - The Molloy College softball team brought out the bats in game one of a Sunday (Apr. 10) doubleheader with NYIT, smacking 15 hits and winning a five-inning mercy rule contest by a score of 11-3. The visitors, however, returned the favor in the second game by winning a 10-4 contest at Bob Klein Field. Molloy is now 21-13 overall and 12-4 in ECC play while NYIT is 21-9 on the 2016 season with a 12-2 mark in conference competition.
Game One: Molloy 11, NYIT 3 - Five InningsAfter trailing 1-0 going into the bottom of the first inning, the maroon and white battered Bears starter Laura McLaughlin (Gilbert, Ariz.) for six runs in the first inning of play.
Tracey Balinskas (Edison, N.J.) started the rally with a single and advanced to second on a fielding error, then moved to third on an infield hit off the bat of
Olivia Banulski (Bristol, Conn.). With runners on the corners and no one out, junior
Ashley Fedor (Monroe, Conn.) slapped a single up the middle to tie the game at one-all. Then on a 2-2 pitch, sophomore shortstop
Brianna Dalton (Northampton, Pa.) lasered a three-run home run over the left-center field fence to put the Lions ahead by a 4-1 score. The maroon and white scored two more runs on RBI singles by
Kaitlyn Snyder (Smithtown, N.Y.) and Balinskas, then added another in the second to lead 7-1. After Fedor drew a bases-loaded walk in the third inning, sophomore catcher
Alexandra Russo (Coram, N.Y.) hit a two-run single to left field to put Molloy up by a 10-1 score. NYIT scored two runs in the fifth off of
Chelsea Hawks (Wading River, N.Y.) to extend the game up to the bottom of the fifth, when Dalton blooped an RBI double into left field for the walk-off victory.
Balinskas and
Erin Clinton (Long Beach, Calif.) each had three hits while Dalton went 2-for-4 with four runs batted in, extending her hitting streak to 15 games. Fedor and Banulski each added two hits while Hawks improved her record to 10-7, surrendering three runs on seven hits in five innings of pitching.
Game Two: NYIT 10, Molloy 4The roles would be reversed in Game Two as freshman pitcher
Jenna Turato (Garden City South, N.Y.) had difficulty navigating through the first inning. A lead-off single by Amber Butenhoff (Port Jervis, N.Y.) coupled with a throwing error on a bunt by Tori Duquette (Irvine, Calif.) gave the Bears runners at second and third base with no one out. Senior infielder Kat Zabielski (Farmingdale, N.Y.) laced a two-run double into right-center field to put NYIT up 2-0, and the lead ballooned to 5-0 following an RBI single from Christina Pantages (Whittier, Calif.) and a two-run homer hit by Tiffany McCracken (Murrieta, Calif.). The Bears extended the lead in the second inning to an 8-0 margin with a home run by Butenhoff, as well as an RBI single from Pantages and catcher Madison Smith (Tustin, Calif.) reaching on an error. Molloy got a run back in the third on an RBI single from Banulski, and then Dalton knocked in two runs with a single down the right field line in the fifth. The teams traded runs in the sixth as Katie Bejarano-Moreno (Globe, Ariz.) launched a solo home run to center field in the top half while Balinskas drove in
Chrissy Heyer (Brooklyn, N.Y.) with a run-scoring single in the bottom of the frame. NYIT got one last run in the seventh as Smith doubled home Zabielski in the frame to provide the final margin.
Senior Carly Wade (Placentia, Calif.) tossed a complete-game, surrendering 10 hits and four runs while keeping the maroon and white off balance with a good mix of locations as well as a devastating off-speed pitch to strike out four batters. For Molloy, Banulski had three hits while Balinskas and Snyder added two base hits as well. Dalton kept her hitting streak alive at 16 games with the two-run single in the fifth inning of play. Turato took the loss, getting just one out in the first inning while Balinskas allowed five runs (three earned) in 6.2 innings pitched with eight strikeouts.
The Lions will host Dominican (N.Y.) in a doubleheader on Monday (Apr. 11) at Bob Klein Field at 3 p.m.
