UTICA, NY - The Utica College softball team produced a split in a doubleheader on Wednesday. The Pioneers took game one by a 3-2 score, before dropping the second game 5-3 against visiting Keuka College in non-conference softball action at Greenman Field in Utica.
With the game one win, the Pioneers secured the 300th win of head coach
Pat Mineo's career.
The Pioneers are 7-5, while Keuka now stands at 2-4. The Wolves had fifteen hits across the two games, while Utica finished with twelve.
Brooke Catlin (Brewerton, NY/Central Square High School) had a hit, an RBI, and a run scored in each game of the doubleheader.
Emily Joss (South Glens Falls, NY/South Glens Falls) was 2-for-3 with a triple and a run scored in game two.
The Pioneers are back on the field on Saturday as they host Nazareth in a doubleheader beginning at noon.
Game 1: Utica 3, Keuka 2
The Pioneers overturned a 2-0 lead with a three-run fourth inning as they snagged game one by a 3-2 score over the Wolves.
Catlin was 1-for-2, drove in a run, and scored the winning run.
Julia Phelps (Waterford, NY/Shenendehowa High School) was 1-for-3 with a run scored, and
Abbigayle Finch (New Paltz, NY/New Paltz) was 1-for-1 and drove in the winning run.
In the circle,
Jordyn Conte (Newport, NY/West Canada Valley High School) went the distance and out-dueled Keuka ace Whitney Tyler. The Pioneer hurler allowed two runs on five hits in a complete game victory, and struck out two. Tyler struck out five and allowed three runs on five hits in the loss for the Wolves.
Keuka got the lead early on a groundout by Shelby Burgess, which drove in Helena Hill for a 1-0 advantage in the first. They added to their lead when Kelsey Mohl doubled to score Jordyn Fargo.
Utica mounted their rally with a firm two-out effort in the fourth. Phelps set the table with a single, and stole second to get into scoring position.
Sara Stransky (Miller Place, NY/Miller Place) moved her to third on a sacrifice fly.
Megan O'Keefe (Albany, NY/Bethlehem Central) then walked, and Catlin singled in Phelps to cut the lead to 2-1. O'Keefe came in to tie the score as
Madison Akots (Wynantskill, NY/Emma Willard School) reached on an error at first base. The winning run was delivered on a single to right field by Finch, which brought Catlin in to score from second base.
The Pioneers had to stop Keuka from plating a run in the fifth with Hill standing on third, but otherwise saw smooth sailing the rest of the way with three scoreless innings to close out the win.
Game 2: Keuka 5, Utica 3
The Wolves scored the first five runs of the game, and a Utica comeback effort fell short despite a combined three runs in the fourth and fifth innings as the visitors salvaged the split.
Emily Joss (South Glens Falls, NY/South Glens Falls) was two for three in game two, and scored a run. In the circle,
Makenna Reinold (Holland Patent, NY/Holland Patent High School) took the loss with five runs allowed, only one of them earned, on ten hits. She struck out one. Hannah Delgatto earned the win for Keuka, and Whitney Tyler had her first save of the year. Helena Hill scored two runs for the Wolves.
The scoring began in the second game as it did in the first, with Burgess grounding in Hill to take a 1-0 lead for Keuka. The Wolves scored twice more in the inning on a pair of RBI singles to lead 3-0 after one frame. Keuka catcher Abby Kruse stretched the lead to five runs in the second inning with a single to left field which scored Hill and Danielle Bosch.
Utica began to rally in the fourth inning, as
Erica Sanford (Boonvile, NY/Adirondack) brought in Catlin on a sacrifice fly, and
Bailey McElwain (Baldwinsville, NY/Charles W. Baker High School) cashed in an RBI single to plate Akots and trim the lead to 5-2. The rally extended into the fifth when Catlin drove in
Emily Joss (South Glens Falls, NY/South Glens Falls), but the Pioneers would get no further. Tyler came on to pitch the sixth and seventh innings to record a perfect six-out save for the Wolves, and the Pioneers ran out of time on their efforts to secure a sweep.
