Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
Staten Island, NY – Sophomore pitcher Judy Betz (Ashburn, VA) threw two complete game gems to help lift the Wagner College softball team to a pair of key wins over Mount St. Mary's in today's Northeast Conference doubleheader.
After Betz shutdown the first three Mount batters to open the day, the Seahawks got their bats heated up. With one out, Kristen Matteoni (Reno, NV) belted her third double of the year, taking an Amanda Sadowl pitch deep off the left centerfield fence. The next batter, Ashley Olsen (Staten Island, NY) jumped on a Sadowl pitch, singling to right field and advancing Matteoni to third. Senior Amanda Garcia (Fresno, CA) followed her two teammates with a shot of her own, belting a two-run double to the fence, recording her team-leading sixth and seventh RBI of the year, and giving the Seahawks an early 2-0 lead.
Both Brittany Huss (Anthem, AZ) and Ashley Rollins (Fairfax, VA) would also record hits in the bottom of the first, but Sadowl got Jamie El-Aazami (Houston, TX) to ground into an inning-ending double play to prevent further damage.
Both defenses went three up, three down, in the second inning before the Mount got on the board in the top of the third when two hits and a Wagner error translated into a game-tying two runs.
After the Mount tied up the game in the second, freshman MacKenzie Alfaro (Riverside, CA) was the only player on either team to get a hit until the Seahawks regained the lead in the bottom half of the fifth inning. Wagner was helped to its lead by the Mount's second error of the day, when Matteoni reached first on a foul-up by the visitor's shortstop. Similar to the first inning, Olsen followed the freshman with a shot to left field, scoring Matteoni and cruising into second base with her third double of the year. Two batters later, Olsen crossed the plate herself on a single up the middle by Huss that extended the Seahawk lead to 4-2.
The two-run lead was all Betz needed, as the second-year righty took care of the rest, allowing just one hit in the next two innings to seal the Wagner victory in game one.
Head coach Glen Payne looked to keep the momentum that Betz created going, giving her the start in the second game against a winless Amanda Hanson for the Mount.
The two worked their way through each team's top of the order before Huss knocked the first hit of the game in the bottom of the second inning. Her single would translate into a run for the Green and White after Rollins advanced Huss to second on a well-executed sacrifice bunt. Huss would move to third on a wild pitch by Hanson and score two batters later on a successful suicide squeeze by El-Aazami, again putting the Seahawks out front, 1-0.
The Mount earned its first hit of the game in the top of the third on a two-out single by Courtney Mason, but the freshman would stay there as Betz got Taylor Beebe to pop out to end the inning.
Wagner kept things moving in the bottom half of the third with a leadoff single by Matteoni. The freshman then stole second before moving to third on an infield error, and scored on a long sacrifice fly by Garcia to bring the Wagner lead to 2-0.
With her team out front again, Betz threw hitless innings in the fourth and fifth before working into a bases-loaded jam in the top of the sixth. Two hits and a walk loaded the bases for the Mount with just one out, but Betz got Beth Everist to pop out to the circle, and Erin Leddy to fly out to Olsen, who made a backhanded grab in shallow left field, to end the inning.
Wagner was the only team to record a hit from that point on as Garcia added to her team-high totals with a single to right field in the bottom of the sixth. Betz took the rubber and got the first two batters to ground out before striking out Nicole Reeder to end the game, 2-0.
The two wins move the Seahawks to 5-21 on the year and 3-7 in the NEC, while the Mount falls to 9-21 and 1-7 in the conference. Betz allowed just seven hits in 14 innings, while striking out five in the process for the Seahawks.
The team will dip back into non-conference action on Tuesday, when the Seahawks travel down to Philadelphia, PA, for a two-game set with Temple.
