WEEHAWKEN, N.J. (April 11, 2010) – Stevens Institute of Technology softball lost both games of an Empire 8 doubleheader to Nazareth College on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon at the Weehawken Waterfront. Kelly Kocher (Victor, N.Y.) pitched all 14 innings for the Golden Flyers (8-10), striking out 26, though Clair Strom and Naomi Sacks had two hits apiece for the Ducks (5-17) on the day.
Game 1
Stevens starter Amanda Petrocelli struck out the first batter of the afternoon before allowing a double to the left-centerfield wall by Polly Muehlenkamp (Cincinatti, Ohio) with one out. Petrocelli worked hard to leave her there, striking out the next batter looking and getting the Golden Flyer's cleanup batter to pop out to Naomi Sacks to end the Nazareth first.
Casey Mathers (Cassadaga, N.Y.) worked a walk to start the top of the second, and Katie Valerio (Pittsford, N.Y.) singled with one out, but Petrocelli kept Nazareth off the board in that inning as well.
In the third, Kelley Horbal (Auburn, N.Y.) singled up the middle to start things off, and was sacrificed to second by Muelenkamp. On the next pitch, a heads-up play by Sacks and thirdbaseman Victoria Webber allowed the Ducks to nail the lead runner trying to move to third on a groundball in the hole. A flyout to Maggie Weigel in left ended the Nazareth threat.
Meanwhile, Nazareth starter Kelly Kocher (Victor, N.Y.) struck out the side in order in her first two innings of work, and the leadoff batter in the third for seven straight.
Victoria Webber broke up the streak of Kocher K's in the bottom of the third with a perfectly executed base-hit bunt down the third base line, but Kocher stranded her there with two more strikeouts to end the inning.
In a carbon copy of the start of the second, Mathers walked and was sacrificed to second for the first out fourth. But catcher Brianna Sticco then made a great play behind the dish to snare a foul pop up against the fence for the second out. Ann Schoff (Little Falls, N.Y.) doubled on a hot groundball right down the leftfield line to drive home Mathers for the first run of the game for either team, and the score remained 1-0 at the end of the Nazareth fourth.
Sacks got another bunt single for Stevens with one out in the fifth, and Clair Strom was robbed on a diving play by Muehlenkamp at second base for the second out in the frame before Kocher got another strikeout to end the Ducks' mini-rally.
Petrocelli then set the Golden Flyers down in order in the top of the fifth, a frame highlighted by Webber's lightning-quick snare of a Nazareth hit down the line to end the inning.
Back-to-back Stevens errors to start the sixth put the Ducks in a tough position, and Nazareth sacrificed both runners to scoring position with one out. Then Schoff sent three-run homerun over the leftfield wall to make the score 4-0 in favor of Nazareth- with all three runs in the inning unearned.
4-0 would be the final score of game one, with Kocher finishing with 18 strikeouts in her seven innings. Petrocelli was the tough-luck loser, surrendering only one earned run while striking out four.
Game 2
Both teams went down in order in the first inning of the second game, with Kocher returning to the circle for Nazareth and freshman Molly Herforth taking the ball for the Ducks.
Herforth's fellow freshman and battery-mate Clair Strom led off the top of the second for Stevens with a hard-hit single through the hole in the left side, but Kocher proceeded to get three straight outs in the air to retire the side.
In the second inning, Brittany Patenaude (Watertown, N.Y.) earned a walk, was sacrificed to second and barely beat Krista Sticco's throw as she advanced to third on the same play. Valerio then sent a ball to Maggie Weigel in left field deep enough to score Patenaude for the first run of the game.
Both teams went in order in the third. Stevens displayed some slick fielding by Herforth, Sacks and Webber to put away the top of the Golden Flyer order in the bottom half of the inning.
With one out in the top of the fourth, Sacks stroked a double to left-center that one-hopped the wall to put the first Stevens runner in scoring position on the day. Sarah Parker knocked a two-out single to left to move Sacks to third, but the Ducks could not push the run across to tie the game.
After two walks to begin the bottom of the fourth, Haley Wagner (Lyons, N.Y.) got the first Nazareth hit of the game; a two-RBI double down the leftfield line to make the score 3-0.
Herforth worked a scoreless fifth, despite a leadoff walk and one more free pass with two outs as the Flyers left two runners on in the inning. Kocher countered with a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the sixth.
Nazareth scored two more runs on a single by Jessica Mangicaro (Syracuse, N.Y.) and an RBI groundout by Muehlenkamp to increase their lead to 5-0 in the sixth.
Strom hit a liner up the middle to start the Stevens seventh, but that was all the offense the Ducks could muster as they fell in the second game by a score of 5-0.
Stevens continues its season-long homestand on Tuesday night under the lights as they take on Mt. St. Mary College beginning at 7p.m.
