Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
Staten Island, NY – A walk-off single by freshman Ashley Rollins (Fairfax, VA) gave the Wagner College softball team an extra-inning victory over Central Connecticut State, 8-7, in game two of Monday's Northeast Conference doubleheader. The Blue Devils knocked off the Seahawks 6-2 in the day's first matchup.
Wagner head coach Glen Payne gave sophomore right-hander Judy Betz (Ashburn, VA) the nod for the day's opener, as Betz entered her eighth straight start. Betz allowed one hit in the top of the first inning before giving up the first runs of the afternoon on two Blue Devil hits. The second-year hurler was called for two illegal pitches in the inning, advancing the Blue Devils' hitters into their scoring position.
The Seahawks got on the board in the bottom of the third inning after a two-out single by senior Amanda Garcia (Fresno, CA) brought home Kristen Matteoni (Reno, NV), who led off the inning belting her fourth double of the year to the left centerfield fence. Blue Devils' pitcher Jordan Tingley got the next batter, Brittany Huss (Anthem, AZ), to fly out to left field to end any more damage and keep her team in front 2-1.
CCSU added one more run in the fourth inning and two in the fifth, tagging Betz for four hits and forcing two Wagner errors to pull away with a 5-1 lead.
Wagner got one run back in the bottom half of the fifth inning when another leadoff double, this time by senior Hailey Corthell (Reno, NV), translated into a score on an Ashley Olsen (Staten Island, NY) RBI. Olsen collected her eighth RBI of the year on the play, bringing the Seahawks to within 5-2.
The visitors were able to send home an insurance run in the top of the sixth inning when a Wagner error and three Blue Devil hits were enough to extend their lead to 6-2.
Tingley shut down the Seahawks in their sixth and seventh plate appearances, allowing no hits and walking just one to seal the 6-2 game one win.
The win gave Tingley her team-best eighth win of the year, as the Blue Devils moved 20-14-1 and 7-4 in NEC play. Betz gave up 11 hits, but just two earned runs in her 13th loss of the season for the Seahawks.
Coach Payne elected to stay with Betz in the circle for game two as the Seahawks faced senior Liz Montemurro for Blue Devils.
CCSU picked right up where they left off in game in the top of the first inning with two runs on three hits and a Wagner error. Betz kept the scoring to two runs by striking out Sarah Vlahos to strand three Blue Devil runners on base.
After Montemurro retired the first three Seahawks in the bottom half of the first, Wagner evened the game up in the second. A leadoff single by Huss and a hard-fought walk by Rollins, put the Seahawks' first two runners of the game on base. Two batters later, Matteoni laced a two-out single up the middle, scoring Huss and Rollins and tying the game at 2-2..
The Seahawks chased Montemurro in the bottom of the third inning when a leadoff single by Olsen forced CCSU head coach Jeff Franquet to bring in freshman Julie Marks. Wagner took advantage of the pitching change when back-to-back RBI singles by Laura Hennig (Dyer, IN) and MacKenzie Alfaro (Riverside, CA) gave Wagner two runs, to make it a 4-2 ball game.
Wagner and CCSU traded runs again in the fourth inning as Kendall Sours scored for the Blue Devils in the top half, before a bunt single by Matteoni and an RBI blast to left field by Garcia, again made it a two-run game, with the Seahawks still leading 5-3.
A scoreless fifth inning paved the way for an offensive explosion in the sixth with each team putting up two runs on a combined five hits and two errors. Wagner's two tallies came on a one-out single to left field by Olsen that scored Matteoni and Corthell, keeping the Seahawks in the lead to 7-5, heading into the seventh.
Two defensive errors in the top of the seventh inning cost the Seahawks the lead, as the Blue Devils scored two runs on just one hit and a walk to tie the game at 7-7 and force extra innings.
As both Betz and Tingley, who came in to replace Marks in the bottom of the seventh inning, set down their opposition's offense in the eighth and first half of the ninth inning, the Seahawks broke the tie and capped off the win in the bottom of half of the ninth with singles by Olsen and Huss. Rollins followed suit, knocking her sixth hit of the year and scoring Olsen to give Wagner the game two victory.
Betz was credited with the nine-inning complete game victory, as the Seahawks moved to 7-22 on the year and 5-9 in the NEC. Her seven strikeout-performance tied her season-best, as she walked just two, giving up four earned runs.
The Seahawks will wrap up their six-game homestand on Wednesday, when they host the Bulldogs of Yale University at Wagner Field in a non-conference doubleheader beginning at 3:00 pm.
