New Britain, CT – After dropping a 4-1 decision to Central Connecticut in game one of Sunday's Northeast Conference (NEC) doubleheader, the Wagner College softball team picked up its first conference win of the season with a 4-2 victory in game two.
The Seahawks hit two home runs on the day and now have a total of 16 on the season. Junior centerfielder
Brianna Tredway (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown West) launched a three-run shot over the left field fence to lift Wagner over the Blue Devils and improve the Seahawks' record to 14-21 overall and 1-7 in NEC play.
Game One Recap: Central Connecticut 4 Wagner 1 Central Connecticut scored all four of its runs early in the first game, putting up two in the first inning followed by one run apiece in the second and third.
The lone Seahawk run came from freshman second baseman
Karen Prihoda (Hamilton Square, NJ/The Lawrenceville School), who laced a home run to left center in the top of the fourth to cut the deficit to 4-1, which would eventually be the final score.
Prihoda also had a double in the second inning and accounted for two of the Wagner's five hits.
Sophomore's
Maddie Marable (Reno, NV/Earl Wooster) and
Morgan Brown (Buckeye, AZ/Verrado) each doubled while freshman
Lauren Serrato (Litchfield Park, AZ/Verrado) had a single for the Green & White.
Brown went the distance in the circle, tossing 6.0 innings pitched while striking out six batters and scattering six hits.
Game Two Recap: Wagner 4 Central Connecticut 2 After a scoreless two innings of play, the Blue Devils struck first when Kaitlin Paterson doubled to center field and then scored on a Kerri Dadalski RBI single.
Wagner then took a 3-1 lead in the top of the fourth and never looked back. That is when Tredway delivered her game changing-hit, booming a three-run home run to left field, scoring freshman shortstop
Erica Krumbine (Freehold, NJ/Saint John Vianney) and sophomore left fielder
Maite Reece (Covina, CA/Gabrielino).
Central Connecticut threatened with bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth after Eileen Purcell and Tori Constantin walked and Brittany McNulla singled to center field. However, Wagner junior righthander
Gina Massaro (Levittown, PA/Conwell-Egan Catholic) was able to get out of it by inducing Katie Schmidt to a ground out to third base to end the inning.
The Blue Devils logged their final run of the game in the fifth inning when they loaded the bases once again with no outs and Purcell hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Brittany Camara and draw CCSU to within one run.
With Wagner clinging to a 3-2 lead, junior
Aerika High (Manheim, PA/Manheim Central) led off the top of the sixth for the Seahawks with a single to right center. Reece then perfectly executed a sacrifice bunt to move High to second before Krumbine delivered an RBI single to score High and extend the Wagner lead to 4-2.
Central Connecticut threatened again in the bottom of the seventh with two outs. Back-to-back singles by Purcell and Alexis Debrosse put runners on first and second but junior
McKaleigh Goodale (Bradenton, FL/Lakewood Ranch), who came in to pitch in the fifth inning, and a solid Wagner defense, got themselves out of it with a ground out to Prihoda at second base.
Massaro picked up her third win of the year, giving up two runs on six hits with three strikeouts.
Goodale was credited with her third save of the season, scattering just three hits in 3.0 innings with one strikeout and no runs scored.
The Seahawks are next in action on Tuesday, April 19 when they host local rival Monmouth. The 2:00 pm twinbill vs. the Hawks is the start of a six-game homestand for the Green & White.
