Kissimmee, FL | The Dolphins continued The Spring Games in Florida today with a pair of early-morning matchups against Susquehanna University and UMass Dartmouth. The Dolphins fell to the River Hawks, 10-3, and lost a tight pitchers duel again UMass in the later innings, 1-0. The Dolphins fell to 0-4 to start the season while Susquehanna evened their record at 5-5 and UMass improved to 5-2.
Game 1 | SUSQUEHANNA 10, STATEN ISLAND 3
In a game where offense was the focus, it was the River Hawks who had the better of it in the opener, ripping off 10 runs on 12 hits, aided by four Dolphins errors en route to their big win. After a scoreless first, Susquehanna would score in four of the next six innings, adding plenty of insurance late before CSI was able to tally some late runs of their own.
Using the benefits of just a single hit, the Hawks tallied three times in the second inning off of CSI starter Jaclyn Kateridge. After Kiara Bryant was plunked, CSI committed back-to-back errors to allow two runs to score, and later, Kody Streeter was plated on a Katherine Fashbender double to make it a 3-0 game. Kateridge was able to get out of the jam from there, stranding two Hawks runners.
While SU starter Alexa Gonzalez worked quickly in the circle in the second and third innings, the Hawks made it 4-0 in the fourth with a Jackie Gore leadoff home run. CSI stranded a pair of base runners in their turn of the fourth, and after an uneventful fifth, SU opened the game up with a three-run, five-hit, sixth to make it a 7-0 game. Pinch hitter Samantha Duplissey had the highlight with a two-RBI double.
Refusing to go down without a fight, CSI was able to finally scratch out a run in the sixth off of Gonzalez. Antoinette Galbo and Patricia Riches started the inning off with singles, and despite a double-play that would erase Galbo, Riches would race in to score on a Sierra Kaplanek double, her second of the season.
Leading 7-1, SU had a fitting response in the seventh by plating three more runs off of reliever Vanessa Porto. Katie Welker, Ellen Smith and Kasey Bost all had RBI-hits in the frame, as the Hawks scattered five base hits in the seventh altogether. Down 10-1, CSI made more noise in the seventh before the day was done for the pair of teams. Against closer Brooke Wiarda, Christina Cerverizzo singled and later came around to score via error. After another error, Riches continued her red-hot trip with an RBI-single to plate Galbo, finalizing the scoring at 10-3.
Gonzalez improved to 3-1 with the win, tossing six innings, allowing the one earned run on six hits. Kateridge took the loss, allowing four runs (two earned) on just three hits, fanning three in five innings of work. CSI was out-hit, 12-8. Welker went 2-2 at the dish with a pair of RBI and a run scored with Erin Bean going 2-3 with a walk and run scored. Both Galbo and Riches posted 2-4 performances in the opener for the Dolphins.
Game 2 | UMASS-DARTMOUTH 1, STATEN ISLAND 0
In their second matchup of the day the Dolphins found themselves locked in a hard-fought pitchers’ duel again UMass-Dartmouth. The game will filled with missed opportunities for both sides and was ultimately decided by a single sixth inning UMass run. The Dolphins stranded a runner in scoring-position in the first and two more on second and third base in the following inning. UMass also had their chances early stranding a runner at second in inning number two and leaving the bases loaded in the third. It was finally the Corsairs that broke the scoreless tie with a well-struck sixth inning Kylie Fletcher RBI-triple that rolled all the way to the right center field wall. The Dolphins mounted a threat in the top half of the final frame advancing the tying run into scoring position, but they failed to cash in and dropped their second game of the day, 1-0.
The Dolphins posed a threat in each of the first two innings getting things started with a Riches infield single. Riches advanced to second on a poor throw to first base providing the Dolphins with an early opportunity to score. CSI failed to bring Riches home, but would have another chance to find their way onto the scoreboard in the second.
Back-to-back singles by Samantha MacPherson and Kaplanek kicked off the second inning for CSI and those two base-runners were quickly advanced by a Cerverizzo sacrifice. With one out, the Dolphins had their best scoring opportunity of the game against Corsairs starter Jill Richards. Erica Olsen had the first chance to bring home a Dolphins run, but she tapped one softly into the circle for the second out. Alexis Kateridge then attempted to pick up the two-out RBI, but she hit one weakly over to first-base for the final out of the inning. This would be the Dolphins last scoring chance before the seventh.
UMass also had early-inning scoring chances of the own against Jaclyn Kateridge who got the start for the Dolphins. A one-out walk and stolen base put a runner in scoring-position in the first and consecutive singles to start the following inning put two on with nobody out in the second. However, Kateridge found her way out of trouble in both innings, but had a much more difficult jam to navigate in the third.
The first two UMass batters reached in a tumultuous bottom of the third on Dolphin errors. A wild pitch then moved those runners to third with nobody out. A walk loaded the bases, but the runner on first was quickly erased leaving the bag early in an attempt to get a head start towards second. The Dolphins then picked up the second out completing a rundown between third and home before a walk re-loaded the bases. With the bags full of Corsairs and nowhere to put the batter Kateridge escaped inducing a line-out into the glove of Antoinette Galbo.
Neither team would plate a run until the sixth inning when the scoreless tie was finally ended by the Corsairs. It was Kylie Fletcher who came through with a clutch two-out RBI triple to drive in the game’s first run against Kateridge. This left it to Anna Kerwood, now in line for the win after coming on to pitch the sixth for the Corsairs, to close out the Dolphins in the seventh.
CSI didn’t go down quietly in the final stanza as MacPherson led things off with a single up the middle. Unfortunately, she was erased on an attempted sacrifice bunt by Cerverizzo. With Cerverizzo on first, Alexa Venditti grounded out moving Cerverizzo into scoring position. This was as far as she would get as Alexis Kateridge was retired to end the game at 1-0.
Kateridge picked up the tough loss for the Dolphins allowing just a single run in her best performance of the young season. For the Corsairs, Jill Richards and Anna Kerwood combined to pitch the shutout with Kerwood earning the win in relief. MacPherson and Riches each contributed two hits in a game which saw CSI outhit the Corsairs, 6-5. Kylie Fletcher had a pair of hits for UMass as well including the game-winning RBI triple.
CSI will have the day off on Friday and will get back to action on Saturday. They will take on Western New England at 1:45pm on Saturday, followed by a 4:00pm date with Concordia (WI).
