April 13, 2008
Stats
Emmitsburg, MD - The Wagner College softball team won their fourth-straight game this afternoon, taking both games of a Northeast Conference doubleheader in polar opposite ways from host Mount St. Mary's, 3-2 in the first game and 9-8 in the nightcap. They improve to 18-15 overall, 7-5 in the NEC.
In the first game it was all about the comeback.
Trailing 2-1 in their last turn at bat in the top of the seventh freshman centerfielder Emily Pierce (Phoenix, AZ/Desert Vista) came up with a clutch double down the right field line driving in the tying run in sophomore Kate Eshelman (Reno, NV/McQueen) who reached on a single through the right side.
Then, in the extra stanza, senior infielder Margaret Gallia (Las Vegas, NV/Community College HS) doubled in the game-winning run in junior infielder Andrea Lazzari (Reno, NV/Wooster) on a shot past third down the left field line with two outs.
The Seahawks had taken the first lead of the contest in the top of first on another solo homerun from senior shortstop Katie Stevens (Reno, NV/Wooster) - her second in as many days.
Sophomore hurler Danielle Wagoner (Temecula, CA/Temecula Valley) got credit for the victory after relieving starter Kate Eshelman and throwing the final four and two-thirds giving up no earned runs, seven hits, while striking out one. She moves to 5-3 on the season.
In the second game, the story wasn't about the Green & White coming back but rather maintaining the lead.
Lead by Andrea Lazzari, who kept up her extraordinary season at the plate by going three for four and knocking in four runs, the Seahawk offense exploded in the first three innings putting up eight runs including five of them in the top of the third.
The lone run they would get in the next half inning - the top of the fourth - would prove to be the game-winner. That score came across on a double down the left field line off the bat of Andrea Lazzari for her fourth RBI (the other three on a homerun with two runners on in that five-run inning) of the game.
After not being able to figure out Seahawk starting pitcher Ami Iwicki (Sr., Flemington, NJ/Hunterdon Central) for the first two innings the Mountaineers exploded in the third and fourth innings for six runs combined on seven hits and an error.
For the second straight game Danielle Wagoner came in to relieve, getting the final out of the fourth inning with runners on the corners. She would stay in and not give up a run until the last of the seventh inning, when the Mount would put up a hard-charging comeback attempt.
In that seventh inning Wagoner surrendered two runs on three hits, as the Mountaineers threatened with the tying run just sixty feet away at third base before Kate Eshelman took over on the mound and shut the door by getting the last out on a groundball that Andrea Lazzari flipped to Katie Stevens for the force.
The Reno pitcher/infielder got credit for the save, her third of the year while Iwicki picked up the win moving to 2-1 in 2008.
With the perfect weekend record of 4-0 the Seahawks now find themselves alone in fourth place in the NEC standings, making the playoffs in the final spot if the season had ended today (the top four teams qualify for the NEC tournament).
