Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
Fairfield, CT – In their Northeast Conference (NEC) opener, the Seahawks softball team dropped both games of their doubleheader against Sacred Heart, 4-0 and 7-1, at Pioneer Field in Fairfield, CT.
After the Seahawks went down 1-2-3 in the top of the first, Sacred Heart kicked off its day with active bats. Taylor Froelich led off the bottom half of the inning, taking Judy Betz's (Ashburn, VA) first pitch deep to the right-centerfield fence for a leadoff double. Betz set down the next two batters before Liz Tsipouras jacked her third homerun of the season over the left field wall, giving the Pioneers an early 2-0 lead.
While Sacred Heart's Jen Russell was in the middle of a no-hit game, the Pioneers continued to add to their lead, with a single run in the bottom of the third inning on a Wagner throwing error bringing the score to 3-0.
A double to centerfield in the bottom of the fourth inning by Shannon McCoy scored Nicole Sidor, who reached on a bloop single over the head of Brittany Huss (Anthem, AZ), extending the Pioneers lead to 4-0, while the Seahawks continued to struggle with the bats.
Russell's four-run lead is all she needed to get the win, as the senior struck out eight Seahawks on the day, en route to her first no-hitter of the season.
Senior Amanda Garcia (Fresno, CA) was Wagner's only base runner of the day, earning a base on balls in the second inning.
Betz was given her eighth loss of the season, throwing a six-inning, eight-hit, three-earned run performance. The loss knocked Wagner's record down to 1-13, while the Pioneers moved to 10-9 before beginning the day's second game.
In game two, it was Sidor for the Pioneers and Garcia for Wagner who got the nod to the circle for each team. Both hurlers came out hot to start the game, retiring the first six batters faced.
Wagner got its first hits of the day on back-to-back singles by Alyssa McCulloch (East Brunswick, NJ) and Vanessa Lenart (Fontana, CA), but the two-out hits came too late in the third inning as Sidor tallied her ninth strikeout of the young day, getting freshman Taylor Rauscher (Peoria, AZ) to end the inning.
Garcia got into trouble in the bottom half of the third inning, walking the first two batters on eight straight pitches, and giving up a hard single through the left side to load the bases with no outs. Alyssa Garza blasted a drive right back at Garcia, hitting off her glove and trickling into the outfield, scoring two and putting the Pioneers in the driver seat. Sacred Heart went on to add two more runs before the third out, capping off a four-run, five-hit inning.
Having to come from behind again, freshman catcher MacKenzie Alfaro (Riverside, CA) led off the top of the fourth inning with a drive single down the right field line recording her first hit in four games, and just her second of the season. After Ashley Olsen (Staten Island, NY) advanced Alfaro to second, Kristen Matteoni (Reno, NV) tore a shot into right-center field scoring Wagner's first run of the day, and putting them back into the game down 4-1.
The Pioneers added one more to their total in the bottom of the fifth inning after two consecutive hits, followed by an infield error led to the home team's fifth run of the game, bringing their lead back to a four-run margin.
Sidor continued to set down the Seahawks, building her strikeout total to 13 through six innings, while head coach Glen Payne brought in freshman #Ashley# Rollins (Fairfax, VA) to pitch the bottom of the sixth to the Pioneers.
The home team wasn't fazed by the pitching change, jumping on the first-year righty for two runs on three hits forcing the Seahawks to have a heavy seventh inning if they wanted to make a game of it. Olsen led off the inning taking Sidor deep off the left field fence for a standup double, but the Pioneer starter finished strong, striking out the next three to seal the 7-1 victory and ending with 16 strikeouts.
Garcia was credited with her fourth loss of the season, as the conference opening losses bring the Green and White to a 1-14 overall mark and 0-2 in the NEC. The wins help the Pioneers to 11-9 and 2-0 in the league.
Wagner will head northeast to Smithtown, Rhode Island, for its second day of conference play, as they take on the Bryant Bulldogs in another doubleheader day. The first game is scheduled for a noon start.
