ALBANY, N.Y. – The Saint Anselm College softball team picked up back-to-back 4-2 victories at the College of Saint Rose on Tuesday.
Saint Anselm has won six games in a row, improving to 13-10 overall on the season while winning six of the team's first eight games in Northeast-10 Conference play. Saint Rose dips to 7-18 on the season and to 3-5 against the league.
Senior Bre Klaiber (Ironton, Ohio) led Saint Anselm with three hits in six at-bats on the day. Freshman Julia Howse (North Reading, Mass.) was 2-for-4 in game one, stealing a base, and classmate Ava Caputo (Waterford, N.Y.) picked up three hits and scored three runs in two games.
Sophomore Haile Hicks (Jefferson, N.H.) and freshman Sophia DiPippo (Cranston, R.I.) were each victorious in the circle for Saint Anselm. Hicks came on in relief to save game two, striking out a total of 14 batters across nine innings of work – her 11 strikeouts in game one was a career-high total.
Wednesday's NE10 doubleheader against Bentley, scheduled to be played at Saint Anselm, has been postponed to Thursday, Apr. 14 due to anticipated inclement weather in the Queen City. The Hawks host Southern New Hampshire in a key NE10 twinbill on Saturday, Apr. 9 beginning at 1 p.m.
GAME ONE – Saint Anselm 4, Saint Rose 2
Junior Kate Irwin (Milford, Mass.) pushed across the game's first run in the top of the second, grounding out to short and driving home freshman Stephanie Tardugno (Methuen, Mass.), whose first collegiate double put a runner in scoring position for Saint Anselm.
An RBI single up the middle by senior Bailey Cain (Wellington, Fla.) in the fifth inning created a 2-0 advantage for Saint Anselm.
Three hits in the home half of the fifth inning scored the first run of the day for Saint Rose. With two outs, an infield single to the Hawks shortstop cut into the deficit, 2-1. With the bases still loaded, however, Hicks was able to get a swinging strikeout to eliminate any further threat.
A two-run error in the top of the sixth by Saint Rose allowed two additional runs to score for Saint Anselm. In total, two errors in the inning led to the insurance runs for the Hawks – the leadoff batter also reached on a fielding miscue by the Saint Rose shortstop.
Hicks was touched for an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh, halving the Saint Anselm lead to 4-2. Back-to-back pop-ups to Howse at shortstop ended the game with the tying run on base following the run-producing single.
Hicks struck out 11 batters for Saint Anselm, giving up just two earned runs on the day. Isabella Milazzo pitched seven strong innings herself for Saint Rose, allowing two earned runs as well but conceding 10 hits and two unearned runs in the process.
GAME TWO – Saint Anselm 4, Saint Rose 2
Saint Anselm manufactured the first run of the game as Caputo led off the game by reaching on an error. Sophomore Gracie O'Hara (Shrewsbury, Mass.) moved Caputo to second base with a sacrifice bunt and a groundout to short placed her at third with two outs.
Klaiber had the first big hit of the game for Saint Anselm, driving home Caputo from third base to propel the Hawks to a 1-0 lead. Saint Rose tied the game at one just three batters into their half of the inning as a dropped fly ball allowed a run to score from third.
The Hawks found themselves trailing for the first time in the doubleheader in the bottom of the second inning. Three straight batters reached base via hits with the last scoring the go-ahead from third after a leadoff double to begin the stanza.
Another error by Saint Rose put a baserunner on for the Hawks to lead off the top of the fifth inning. With another single by Caputo to follow, the Hawks had runners on the corner. Caputo then swiped second base, setting up a two-run double for O'Hara that created the final score of 4-2 for Saint Anselm
Saint Rose led off the bottom of the sixth with a double, forcing a pitching change for Saint Anselm. Hicks came on in relief, retiring six of the game's final seven batters for her first collegiate save – the one baserunner reached on a walk with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.
DiPippo kept the Hawks in the game during her five-plus innings of work, allowing just one earned run while walking only one. Saint Rose's Hannah Breen struck out six batters and gave up just four hits, allowing four unearned runs.
