Weehawkin, NJ | The College of Staten Island softball team could not crack the win column, falling twice to Stevens Institute of Technology as part of non-conference play today at Weehawkin Waterfront Park. CSI dropped the first encounter in extra innings, 5-4, before falling in the second contest, 4-0. The losses dropped the Dolphins to 0-10, while Stevens improved to 5-7 overall.
GAME 1 – STEVENS 5, STATEN ISLAND 4 (8)
It would take an extra frame to decide the first matchup today, as the teams pawed back-and-forth, bringing a 3-3 tie into the extra inning. CSI got on the board early, scratching out a run in their first turn at the plate against Stevens starter Christina LaRochelle. CSI starting pitcher Jaclyn Kateridge helped her own cause by stroking a leadoff single, and after being sacrificed, she was brought home on a Sierra Kaplanek single to give the Dolphins a 1-0 lead.
That lead would hold until the fourth inning before the Ducks finally gave Kateridge trouble. Allowing two hits, Lexi Gregule tied it coming in on a Gina DeOliveira sac fly. The momentum, however, did not hold, as in the fifth, CSI answered back with two runs. After loading the bases via two hits and a walk, an infield error allowed Patricia Riches to score the go-ahead run, and then Alexa Venditti followed with an infield single to score Kaplanek to make it 3-1 before LaRochelle rallied to record two straight outs and get out of the inning.
Stevens refused to quit, getting closer in the fifth thanks to a Samantha Schattin triple to score Amanda Delorme to make it 3-2. The home team then tied it in the sixth when Katie Tirabassi led off with a triple of her own and was plated on a Madison Gemma single one at-bat later.
Both teams would go down in order in the seventh, setting the stage for the eighth with the international tiebreaker rule in place. CSI started the inning by getting their gifted runner at second, Alexis Kateridge, over to third base on a Christina Cerverizzo sac bunt. Jaclyn Kateridge then grounded out, but Alexis was able to scamper in to give CSI it’s third lead of the game, 4-3.
Down to their final three outs, Stevens started with Meg Halloran at second base. She was promptly advanced to third via a sac bunt, and after issuing a walk to Gemma, DeOliveira struck again, this time with an RBI-double to plate Halloran to tie and place the winning run at third base. With one out, up next was Melissa Alfonso, and she ripped a single to plate Gemma to give Stevens the win in walk-off fashion, 5-4.
LaRochelle scored the win by pitching all eight innings, giving up four runs (two earned) while fanning seven. Kateridge had the hard-luck loss, yielding nine hits in 7.1 innings, striking out one. Alfonso would finish 3-for-4 at the plate for the Ducks with the winning RBI, while Gemma went 2-for-3. CSI scattered eight hits in the opener, led by two each from Kaplanek (2-for-4) and Venditti (2-for-3).
GAME TWO – STEVENS 4, STATEN ISLAND 0
In the second matchup between the two sides, the game was close and within reach most of the way, but a brilliant pitching performance by Marissa Cappello silenced the CSI bats, as she recorded 10 strikeouts and yielded just five hits in the complete-game victory.
They didn’t know it at the time, but all the scoring Stevens needed was in the first inning, as Tirabassi towered a home run to left-center field to give the Ducks a 1-0 advantage. The lead was then doubled against Kateridge in the second when Delorme legged out an infield hit that scored Alfonso, who led the inning off with a walk and made it to third on a pair of ground-outs.
Stevens doubled the lead again in the third plating two more runs to make it 4-0, highlighted by an Alfonso RBI-double.
That proved more than enough for Cappello, who finally yielded a hit in the fifth inning when Claudia Porcaro doubled, but she was left stranded there. CSI then stranded the bases loaded in the sixth, as Jaclyn Kateridge, Antoinette Galbo, and Riches all singled. Threatening again in the seventh, CSI left another two runners stranded again, unable to bring Samantha MacPherson and Alexa Vendiiti home, who singled and walked, respectively.
Kateridge took the game two loss for CSI, tossing three innings, giving up the four earned runs on five hits. Vanessa Porto was efficient in three relief innings, allowing just three hits.
The Stevens-CSI match-up was the first-ever in program history between the two sides. The losses, however, dropped the Dolphins to 0-10 for the first time in program history. They will now have to try and get right with a pair of non-conference games against Kean University on Wednesday, March 27, in Union, NJ.
