The Utica College softball team dropped a pair of non-conference games against local rival SUNYIT Wednesday afternoon at Greenman Field. The Pioneers lost the first game 20-3 in five innings before falling 9-4 in the night cap. Senior Angel Donaghue went 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored, while Kim Martin went 2-for-5 with a team-high two runs scored for the Pioneers.

UC snapped a four game winning streak and dropped to 7-9 overall, while the Wildcats improved to 9-4.

The Pioneers were held scoreless through the first four innings of game one after five strike outs from sophomore hurler Juleah Vedder and a barrage of hits led to a 20-0 lead for the visiting Wildcats. UC was unable to crack the scoreboard until the bottom of the fifth inning when Bridgette Plummer hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Donaghue and cut the Pioneers deficit to 20-1. A walk and a wild pitched resulted in two more Pioneer runs to close out the contest with the score in favor of the Wildcats, 20-3.

After falling behind 3-1 in the first inning of game two the Pioneers were able to knot the score at 3-3 in the bottom of the second behind a Hannah Barton home run to center field and an RBI single from the bat of Newton. SUNYIT was able to tack on four runs in the top of the third to seal the victory in game two.

UC totaled ten hits in game two, including a 2-for-3 performance from freshman Courtney Rainbow, but the Pioneers were unable to pull it all together as they lost 9-4.

Utica returns to action Saturday when they open up Empire 8 Conference play against Elmira College at Greenman Field. The contest is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.

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