WEEHAWKEN, N.J. (April 17, 2011) – The Stevens Institute of Technology softball program honored seniors Naomi Sacks and Sherri Rosenberg in between games of Sunday's doubleheader with Rochester Institute of Technology, where the Tigers swept both close games, by scores of 3-1 and 3-2. The Ducks' record dropped to 16-14 and 5-5 in the Empire 8 with the losses.
Game 1
Stevens starter Kayla Berardi got the Tigers to go 1-2-3 in the top of the first, and led off the game offensively for Stevens with a line-drive double down the leftfield line. Senior Naomi Sacks then walked with one out to put two runners on for the Ducks, and Clair Strom continued her hot hitting with an RBI groundball single through the left side to give Stevens a 1-0 lead.
RIT had a one-out infield single in the second, but Berardi shut the door and capped the frame with a swinging strikeout to keep the Tigers scoreless.
Sarah Parker roped a one-out single up the middle for Stevens in the second, and Berardi walked with two outs, though the Ducks couldn't push the runners across.
Another infield single, this time from Alee Emmi (Cicero, N.Y.), led off the RIT third, but a line-drive double play turned by third baseman Victoria Webber on a sacrifice bunt attempt allowed Berardi to face the minimum in the third. RIT starter Carlissa Cole (Alden, N.Y.) set the Ducks down in order in the bottom half of the inning as well.
The first batter of the fourth inning, RIT's Shannon McCormick (Auburn, N.Y.), reached third on a couple of Stevens errors. Another Stevens error and two singles in the inning led to two unearned runs that gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead. Stevens again went in order in the fourth.
RIT put runners on second and third with just one out in the firth, but Berardi wiggled out of the jam with a strikeout and a pop fly to Sarah Parker in left to keep the deficit at one. Danielle DeFeo singled for the only Stevens baserunner in the bottom of the fifth.
Aside from a two-out double by Arielle Link (Weston, Conn.), the Tigers did not make any noise in the first half of the sixth inning. In the bottom of the sixth, Cole had another 1-2-3 inning as the teams moved to the seventh.
RIT scored an insurance run in the top of the seventh, on a double to center by Emily Courtney (Berlin, Conn.) and an RBI single from McCormick, to take a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the final frame.
In the bottom of the seventh for Stevens, Parker got a base hit, but that was all the Ducks could muster as they dropped the first game 3-1.
Game 2
RIT leadoff hitter Emily Courtney (Berlin, Conn.) reached base in the first inning of game two before Tori Nadow (Charlton, Mass.) launched a two-run homer over the leftfield fence for an early 2-0 Tiger lead.
Kayla Berardi led off the bottom half of the inning with a walk, and Naomi Sacks followed with a line single to left to put two on with one out, but RIT starter Brittany Kemp (Dansville, N.Y.) shut the door with two strikeouts to end the frame.
Lauren Hurley highlighted the 1-2-3 second inning for RIT with a good sliding catch in centerfield for the first out. Parker walked in the Stevens second but that was all for the Ducks in the frame.
In the top of the third, RIT got one baserunner of their own on a one-out walk, but nothing else.
Berardi led off the Stevens third with a base-hit bunt down the thirdbase line, and though Molly Herforth followed with a liner to center, the ball was hit so hard that Berardi couldn't reach second base in time and was thrown out. The inning ended with Stevens still trailing 2-0.
The first two batters reached base for RIT in the fourth, but Herforth left them stranded there as the inning ended. Kemp recorded her first 1-2-3 inning in the home half of the fourth.
RIT put runners on second and third with nobody out in the fifth, but only got one run as third baseman Victoria Webber and shortstop Naomi Sacks turned a popped-up sacrifice bunt attempt into a double play for the first two outs of the inning.
Stevens got their first run of game two in the bottom of the fifth, when Lauren Hurley dropped a bunt single down the thirdbase line and Herforth hit a two-out RBI double to the leftfield wall to bring her home.
The Tigers again put their first two batters on base in the sixth, but Herforth pitched her way out of it again and held the score at 3-1.
Clair Strom led off the Stevens sixth with a single to the left side, and Noreen Jordan lined another single up the middle with two down, but the Ducks couldn't get them home.
In the top half of the seventh, Webber turned another heads-up double play on a popup to end the frame and send the game to the bottom of the seventh.
Berardi brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh, with a single the opposite way to left field. Sacks then knocked a ground-rule double over the wall in left-center to drive in one and make the score 3-2. Sacks moved to third on an ensuing wild pitch. Clair Strom battled for 10 pitches before earning a walk to put the game-winning run on base for the Ducks. Senkevich then stepped up and ripped one down the first baseline, but a good play by Michelle Tabisz (Silver Spring, Md.) at first robbed her of a basehit and ended the game with RIT leading 3-2.
The Ducks will play their last scheduled home games this Wednesday, April 20 against the Polytechnic Institute of New York University. First pitch of the night games will be at 7 p.m.
