JERSEY CITY, N.J. (March 26, 2011) – The Stevens Institute of Technology softball team (5-5) split two games with intra-county rival New Jersey City University on Saturday at the Thomas M. Gerrity Athletic Complex in Jersey City. The Ducks knocked 12 hits in the first game to win 12-1 in five innings, before the Gothic Knights turned the tables and took the second game11-0, also in five innings.
Game 1
Stevens raced out to a 6-0 lead before NJCU even had a chance to bat, as Danielle DeFeo, Clair Strom, Sarah Parker and Victoria Webber all had hits in the opening frame. The first seven Stevens batters reached base, and the first six batters all came around to score in an eventful first.
Stevens starting pitcher Kayla Berardi, meanwhile, had little trouble with the New Jersey City lineup, allowing just one unearned run and one base hit in her five innings of work. The freshman struck out seven and walked only one to earn her fourth win of the season.
The Ducks maintained the 6-0 advantage through the next two innings, before coming to bat in the fourth and doubling their lead with six more runs.
This time, Naomi Sacks, Strom, Noreen Jordan and Lauren Hurley got base hits and freshman first baseman Stephanie Senkevich provided the game's offensive capstone with the first grand-slam home run in Stevens history; a big fly over the wall in left field. Senkevich finished the game with five RBI's.
Every player who batted for Stevens in the first game had a solid stat line. Highlights include Berardi's two runs scored, Sacks' two hits and Strom's two hits and two ribbies. Parker, Webber and Hurley all finished with a hit, a run scored and an RBI apiece. Jordan went 2-for-2 with an RBI and Sherri Rosenberg knocked a base hit in the Ducks' romp that was called after five innings.
Game 2
NJCU starter Ashley O'Beirne (Wood-Ridge, N.J.) stopped the red-hot Stevens lineup in its tracks in the afternoon's second game, holding the Ducks to just one hit in her outing. Clair Strom was the one who got the single in the first to finish the day 3-for-6.
A two-run Rebecca Satz (Morris Plains, N.J.) homerun in the first gave the Gothic Knights a lead they wouldn't relinquish. The teams traded scoreless halves in the second before NJCU reached the 8-run threshold with six more in the third. They would add three more insurance runs in the next inning and O'Beirne shut the door on Stevens to end the game with the Knights leading 11-0 after four-and-a-half.
The Ducks will host their first home doubleheader of the year on Sunday, as Fairleigh Dickinson University will visit the Weehawken Waterfront for a high noon showdown.
