Clermont, FL | Following a day off on Friday, the Dolphins were back in action today looking to bounce back from an 0-4 start and pick up their first victory of The Spring Games. In the front-half of a Saturday afternoon doubleheader, the Dolphins fell to Western New England in a 2-0 game, getting WNE off to a 1-0 start and dropping CSI to 0-5. Minutes after the conclusion of game-one, the Dolphins took the field for a matchup again Concordia-Wisconsin and were defeated by a lop-sided 12-2 score, improving the Falcons to 1-2 while keeping CSI winless.
Game 1 | Western New England 2, CSI 0
In a matchup where the Dolphins out-hit the Golden Bears 6-3, CSI ultimately fell to Western New England by a score of 2-0. A critical Dolphins error resulted in the game’s only two runs as it prolonged the bottom half of the third inning, paving the way for a Sydney Pound RBI-single to plate the game’s first run. The second run came home as the Dolphins elected to try and throw out Pound attempting to steal second with runners on the corners. This allowed Emily Cooney to sprint home and pick up the Bears’ second run as Pound slid in safely at second base.
Neither team reached base in the first inning, but it was the Dolphins who had the first opportunity with a runner on in the top-half of the second. Claudia Porcaro singled and was advanced by a groundout. With two away and Porcaro on second, CSI came up empty and stranded her in scoring position.
Neither team would have an opportunity to score again until the bottom of the third when Emily Cooney reached on an error to prolong the frame. This error would prove costly as it gave the Bears life in the inning, and their first chance at the plate with a runner in scoring-position. With runners on first and second, Sydney Pound singled to right field driving in the game’s first run. With Pound on first and Emily Cooney on third, Pound took off for second, drawing a throw from Porcaro behind the dish. This allowed Cooney to scurry home with the game’s second run. This was all of the support Bear’s starting pitcher Paige Uliase would need.
CSI would scatter a pair of hits over the next two innings before getting their best scoring opportunity in the sixth. The Dolphins loaded the bases on a bunt single, an error and a Sierra Kaplanek single with nobody out. Porcaro would get the first chance to put the Dolphins on the board, but would strike out after a lengthy battle with Uliase. Samantha MacPherson then grounded out before Uliase picked up a huge strikeout of Christina Cerverizzo to bring the inning to a close. This would be the last chance CSI would get as they failed to put together a scoring chance in the seventh and fell to the Golden Bears, 1-0
Uliase picked up her first win of the season, throwing a complete-game shut-out. Kateridge took the loss, her fourth, allowing the two unearned runs and only three base-hits. CSI out-hit WNE 6-3, but the third-inning error and failing to score with the bases load in the sixth was too much for the Dolphins to overcome. Pound came through with the biggest hit of the game for the Golden Bears, capitalizing on the Dolphins’ defensive miscue. Kaplanek continued to swing a hot bat for CSI, contributing a pair of hits.
Game 1 | Concordia University-Wisconsin 12, CSI 2
Under increasingly threatening storm clouds, the Dolphins were right back out on the field for a matchup with Concordia-Wisconsin. Things got off to a shaky start as the Falcons plated one in the first and two in the second. Leading 3-0, the Falcons broke the game wide open in the third, chasing Dolphin’s starter Jaclyn Kateridge with two outs in the third. The Falcons would go on to score nine runs in the inning, extending their lead to 12-0. CSI would plate two in the fourth, but were unable to get any closer, losing 12-2 in five.
Yet another unearned run went up on the board against CSI in the first as a passed ball ultimately resulted in the game’s first run on a Krystal Cortes RBI-single. The Falcons then added two more in the second on a sinking line drive off the bat of Samatha Schloegl that found its way out of the glove of Porcaro in left-field. The ball then rolled all the way to the warning track prompting Schloegl to try for home where she was thrown out at the plate to end the frame.
The Dolphins picked up a hit and nothing more in the second before CUW broke the game wide-open in the next half inning. Seven hits off Kateridge prompted a two-out pitching change with CSI trailing 8-0. Alexa Venditti failed to record an out in relief before being replaced by Vanessa Porto who finally stopped the bleeding with the Dolphins trailing, 12-0.
CSI went down in order in the third, and Porto pitched a scoreless fourth. It was in the bottom-half of inning number four that the Dolphins would string together three straight hits from their most consistent bats, Antoinette Galbo, Patricia Riches, and Kaplanek. The third hit, a Kaplanek double, brought Galbo and Riches around to score, making it 12-2. Both teams failed to score in the fifth, bringing the game to a close after five innings, 12-2.
Gina Followell evened her record at 1-1, allowing two runs on four base hits while striking out six. Kateridge was the losing pitcher, dropping to 0-5, while Venditti allowed three runs without recording an out in relief. It was Porto that helped the Dolphins to the finish, throwing 2.1 scoreless innings. Galbo, Riches, and Kaplanek accounted for all four Dolphins’ hits while the Falcons got contributions from nearly the entire lineup and had four players that put together a multi-hit performance.
CSI has two games to go in Florida as they will wrap up the trip tomorrow March 17 with matchups against Albright College at 9:45 AM, and Plattsburgh State at 12:00 PM.
