Patchogue, NY | The College of Staten Island softball team was back in action today, splitting a pair of non-conference tests at St. Joseph’s College of Long Island. The Dolphins were able to score a 7-3 winner in the opening game before falling to the Golden Eagles, 6-4, in Game Two. With the split, CSI moved to 10-12 overall, while SJC moved to 16-12.
GAME ONE – STATEN ISLAND 7, ST. JOSEPH’S-LI 3
The Dolphins spread out 15 hits in the opener, including a couple of big rips that gave CSI plenty of offense for starter Alison Meagher en route to the win. The scoring only started in the third frame as both Meagher and SJC starter Catherine Zucker were able to keep the bats quiet in the first two frames, despite both teams leaving runners on base.
That would then change in the third. After Julianna Cretella walked for CSI at the bottom of the order, Patricia Riches stepped up and plastered a home run over the left field wall to give CSI the 2-0 lead. Zucker was able to rebound from there, and her hitters were able to respond with a run in the bottom half of the inning off of Meagher. Jillian McFadzen did the honors, scoring on a wild pitch after earning on via an infield single, a stolen base, and another pitch gone wild.
Up 2-1, CSI continued the strong play at the plate in the fourth frame. Samantha McPherson opened with a triple, and then Meagher helped her own cause with an RBI-double. After an infield bunt-single by Christina Cerverizzo, Alexis Kateridge, who pinch-ran for Meagher, came in to score on an Antoinette Galbo single that followed a Riches walk. Cerverizzo would then get plated on a Sierra Kaplanek fielder’s choice error, making it a 5-2 game.
That proved enough for Meagher, even though things got hairy in the fifth. Three hits, including a two-RBI Lyndsay Smocer double cut the Dolphins lead to 5-4 in the fifth, but Meagher was able to squeeze out of trouble retiring the side to end the threat. CSI then quickly responded with two insurance markers in the sixth, as Jaclyn Kateridge and MacPherson smoked RBI-hits against SJC relievers Samantha Yannetti and Katelynn Valente, opening up the lead back up to four, 7-3. Meagher proved true from there, retiring the Eagles in order in the sixth and then wiggling out of trouble in the seventh after the Eagles put runners on first and second with one out.
Meagher earned the win going the distance, allowing seven hits and three earned runs, fanning eight and walking three. Zucker took the loss, firing 4.2 innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on 9 hits, fanning four. The Dolphins were led at the plate by Riches, who went 4-4 with two RBI and three runs scored, adding a walk. MacPherson went 3-4 with an RBI and run scored as well, as CSI out-hit the Eagles, 15-7.
GAME TWO – ST. JOSEPH’S-LI 6, STATEN ISLAND 4
When the runs came, they came in bunches in the second game of the doubleheader. Before the Eagles took their hacks, CSI fired in three runs on four hits in the top of the first inning against starter Alyssa Rivera, opening up a nice lead. The Dolphins did all of their damage with two out. After a Kaplanek walk, Jaclyn Kateridge scored an infield single, and then MacPherson continued her tremendous day with a two-RBI double to make it 2-0. MacPherson would then come in on an infield single off the bat of Meagher that was coupled with an error. Rivera would end the frame from there.
Needing an immediate response, SJC got one against CSI starter Jaclyn Kateridge. An RBI-double by Kassandra Tibbetts would plate in Jenna DeFina who opened with a single and then Aryana Caputo and Tibbetts would come in on a two-RBI smack by Lindsay Ness, tying the game at 3-3. Kateridge was able to slide out of the jam, and then the pitchers each put up a scoreless second inning. After CSI went down quietly in the third, it was time again for the Eagles to make some noise. After Caputo reached base on an error, Smocer walked. Tibbetts then made it hurt again when she towered a home run to left field, making it a 6-3 game with a swing of the bat.
From there, Rivera shined in the circle for SJC. She motored through the next two innings, and after surrendering a leadoff double to Alexa Venditti in the sixth and then an infield single later in the frame, she rebounded in time to register two outs with runners at the corners to get out of a jam. Down to their final three outs, CSI did get a run back in the seventh when Cretella would come in after a base hit, sacrifice, passed ball, and a single by Galbo to make it 6-4. But with the tying run at the plate Rivera forced a harmless pop up to end the threat and the game, at 6-4.
The final line for Rivera in the complete-game win was four runs allowed (three earned) on 10 hits, walking one batter. Kateridge took the loss, tossing three innings, yielding six runs (five earned) on five hits, walking one and striking out another. Meagher went three frames in relief, allowing a lone hit. CSI once again out-hit SJC, this time, 10-6, with both Galbo (2-4, RBI), and Meagher (2-3) registering multi-hit games. Tibbetts finished 2-3 with four RBI and a pair of runs scored for the home side.
CSI will be back at it on Monday, when they face off against John Jay College at Randall’s Island for a CUNYAC doubleheader, beginning at 12 Noon. The games are a make-up from a previously postponed doubleheader washed away by rain.
