SPARKILL, N.Y. – The Saint Anselm College softball team split its non-conference doubleheader at Saint Thomas Aquinas College on Wednesday, dropping game one by a 2-1 score before collecting a 7-6 win in game two in nine innings.
The Hawks move to 10-6 on the season while the Spartans go to 7-7 overall. The Saint Anselm spring break trip continues on Thursday, Mar. 23 when the Hawks head to Philadelphia, Pa. to battle Jefferson University in a non-conference twinbill, starting at 2 p.m.
Senior
Jess Persechino (Torrington, Conn.) and senior
Kylie Fitzpatrick (Danville, N.H.) collected a team-high three hits apiece in the doubleheader with junior
Gracie O'Hara (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and sophomores
Sam Wiberg (Exeter, N.H.) and
Ava Caputo (Waterford, N.Y.) posting two hits apiece.
Junior
Haile Hicks (Jefferson, N.H.) matched a season-high with 10 strikeouts in game one. The junior suffered her first loss of the season after allowing just three hits and two runs, one earned, in 6.0 innings pitched.
Senior
Ava Vincequere (Shrewsbury, Mass.) earned her first collegiate win in game two after allowing two runs, one earned, on four hits in 5.1 innings pitched in relief. Sophomore
Sophia DiPippo (Cranston, R.I.) started game two and allowed one earned run on one hit in 3.1 innings of work.
GAME ONE: Saint Thomas Aquinas 2, Saint Anselm 1
The Spartans had the first scoring chance in game one as
Amanda Demmerle singled to lead off the bottom of the first inning. She would steal second but Hicks got out of the early trouble with three strikeouts.
After both side went three up, three down in the second inning, senior
Kate Irwin (Milford, Mass.) recorded the first Hawks hit of the day in the third. She would steal second with two outs in the frame but a ground out got the Spartans out of the inning.
Saint Anselm pushed across the first run of the game in the top of the fourth inning as sophomore
Stephanie Tardugno (Methuen, Mass.) singled and reached third base on an error. She would score on a wild pitch, giving the Hawks a 1-0 lead. Wiberg registered a two-out triple but she was stranded at third base.
The Hawks got Persechino to third in the top of the fifth following a single to center to lead off the frame but Saint Anselm could not manufacture the run from third.
Saint Thomas Aquinas tied the score in the bottom of the sixth inning as
DeAnna DeCaro reached on an error to lead off the inning. After advancing to third on a pair of wild pitches, DeCaro would score on a triple from
Adrianna Coira, knotting the score at one.
Saint Thomas Aquinas would win game one on a walk off solo home run as
Eliana Raposo sent a 1-0 pitch over the left field fence to give the hosts a 2-1 win in game one.
GAME TWO: Saint Thomas Aquinas 6, Saint Anselm 2
With the Hawks trailing 6-0 through five innings of play, the team would go on to post six runs in the top of the sixth to tie the score. After a hit by pitch led off the frame and a Fitzpatrick ground-rule double put runners on second and third, O'Hara would single to plate sophomore
Lauren Lejano (Cerritos, Calif.) and get Saint Anselm on the board. Fitzpatrick would come across to score on an error as O'Hara stole second base. A walk and single loaded the bases which allowed O'Hara to later score on a passed ball. That set up sophomore
Julia Howse (North Reading, Mass.) who singled up the middle to plate two runs and push the score to 6-5. After Howse reached third on a wild pitch, Caputo singled, bringing home the tying run.
The Spartans put two runners on base in the bottom of the sixth but a pair of ground outs got the Hawks out of trouble and kept the score tied at six.
Saint Anselm would take a 7-6 lead in the top of the ninth inning a bases loaded walk from Persechino brought home the eventual winning run. The at-bat for Persechino was a 10-pitch battle which went to the senior.
Needing a run to extend the game, Saint Thomas Aquinas put three balls in play but all three would be ground outs as the Hawks posted a 7-6 comeback win to split the twinbill.
Earlier in the contest, the Spartans worked out of a no-out, bases loaded jam in the top of the first and took a 2-0 lead in the bottom half.
Carissa Della Vecchia doubled to score Coira, who reached on fielder's choice. Della Vecchia came around to score on a ground out from Raposo, giving the hosts a 2-0 lead through one inning of play.
Saint Thomas Aquinas worked three consecutive walks to load the bases in the fourth. All three runs would come around to score on a fielding error on a ball put in play by
Elyse Marcano, giving the Spartans a 5-0 lead.
The Spartans tacked on a sixth run on a ground out in the bottom of the fifth from Della Vecchia.
