New York, NY | The College of Staten Island softball team continued their winning ways, staying undefeated in the CUNYAC with a pair of wins over rivals Hunter College in the conference pair played at Randall’s Island, 6-2 & 7-2. CSI improved to 12-8 overall and a perfect 6-0 in the conference, while the Hawks fell to 10-12, 4-2, respectively.
GAME ONE – Staten Island 6, Hunter 2
CSI worked up a modest lead in the early innings and then added important insurance down the stretch in game one, riding some hot bats to the win. Before Hunter could swing the bat, CSI took a 1-0 lead in the first when Patricia Riches started things off against HC starter Nicole Guzzone with a double, and after being sacrificed to third, was chased in on a Jamie Holmes single. After CSI starter Nicolette Trapani got through the first, CSI doubled the lead in the second thanks to another Riches double, this time scoring Christina Cerverizzo who posted a one-out single to start the rally.
Hunter was able to get on the register in the third thanks to a two-out single by Jamie Durso that plated Gianna Raimondi, but CSI got the run back and then some in the fourth frame. The first run came thanks to Riches’ third double of the game that again scored Cerverizzo, and then Holmes roped a long single to score Riches to make it 4-1. The Hawks used the fifth inning to chip away again, this time with a well-executed double steal that chased in Colleen McCoy.
The Dolphins, however, did not flinch, and added insurance markers in the sixth and seventh to seal the game. In the sixth, Riches continued her monster afternoon with a solo homerun and in the seventh, Erica Olsen added a sac fly to score Gabriele DeLeon, who earned on with a single to lead off the inning.
Trapani would allow 10 Hunter hits in the game, but walked only one and fanned four in the game to earn the win, Guzzone took the loss, yielidng six earned runs on 11 hits, walking one and striking out one. Riches was the hero, going 4-4 with three RBI and three runs scored.
GAME TWO – Staten Island 7, Hunter 2
In the second game, a pitcher’s duel was on display until the game’s fifth inning, when a total of nine runs were scored in the final three frames. HC starter Leanna Donahue was the first to get touched, as she would yield a pair of runs in the fifth inning after forcing CSI to strand five base-runners to that point. In the fated fifth, Arianna DiBenedetto started things off with a lead-off triple, and in a bizarre twist, Riches followed up with a double that did not score DiBenedetto due to a misjudgment of the fly ball. On the next play, Antoinette Galbo hit into a fielder’s choice that got DiBenedetto out at the plate but moved Riches to third, and she would score on a wild pitch that ended up moving Galbo all around the bases for a 2-0 lead.
Hunter got even, however, in their turn of the fifth against CSI starter Alison Meagher. Brittney Salvador doubled in Alana Vezza who earned on via error, and she came in on a MCoy double as well that tied things up at 2-2. CSI had more scoring to do, and added three runs in the sixth to spoil the HC comeback. It took just a swing of that bat for Riches, who blasted a three-run home run to put a jolt into the visitors. It carried over into the seventh, when Jamie Holmes singled to start the inning and then Meagher helped her own cause with a two-run rocket that went over the fences for the home run to make it 7-2.
Meagher went the distance, allowing no earned runs on six hits, fanning three while walking none. Donahue took the loss, yielding seven earned on 10 hits, striking out two. Riches went 2-3 at the plate with another three RBI with two runs pushed across. Meagher went 3-4 with an RBI.
CSI was slated to play York College on Sunday to continue CUNYAC play but will be rained out. The Dolphins’ next contest will be against Moravian College on April 21 at 1pm.
