FORT MEYERS, Fla. (March 15, 2012) – Eight different Ducks had RBI's and freshman pitcher Brianna Sandone (Haddon Twp., N.J.) worked 10 innings in the circle as the Stevens Institute of Technology softball team split its games with Saint Joseph's College of Maine (L, 4-2) and Albright College (W, 8-1) on Thursday. Sandone allowed just one earned run all day and merited the win versus the Lions.

Game One

After the Ducks batted in the top of the first, St. Joe's put its first two batters of the game on with nobody out. Leftfielder Abigail Gobeille (Little Falls, N.J.) ran down a drive in the gap for the first out, turned and fired to third base to nab a Monk baserunner who got too greedy for the second out. Berardi struck out the next batter as the first inning ended scoreless.

In the second inning, heady two-out baserunning by Lindsay Moore (Barrington, N.H.) allowed her to score from second base on an infield single and gave the Monks a 1-0 after two full innings. Jamie DeGennaro (Pearl River, N.Y.) and Stephanie Senkevich (Washington, N.J.) made good plays on both ends of a bunt down the third base line to prevent another run in the frame.

In the third inning, the Monks earned another run with a two-out single to increase their lead to 2-0 as the fourth frame began.

DeGennaro started the Duck fourth with the team's first hit of the game, a ground-ball single up the middle. Senkevich followed with a line-drive single through the left side to put two runners on for Stevens in their best scoring opportunity of the game until that point. But they were stranded on base as the Ducks remained scoreless.

In the fourth St. Joe's continued to build a picket fence on the scoreboard, scoring a run with a one-out squeeze play. New Stevens pitcher Brianna Sandone came in and stopped the rally by getting the final two outs.

After Gobielle doubled with one out in the fifth, Sandone stepped in for her first collegiate at-bat and ripped a line-drive into the right-centerfield gap that drove in the first Stevens run of the game. DeGennaro traded places with her for another RBI as Stevens closed to within one by the end of the fifth.

Senkevich reached on an error to begin the sixth, and Parker sacrificed the pinch runner Krista Sticco (Leonia, N.J.) over to second. But even a single from Christine Minervini (Toms River, N.J.) could not bring her home to tie the contest. The Monks tacked on one more run in their half of the sixth.

Sandone and Danielle DeFeo (Andover, N.J.) reached base to start the seventh and put the tying run on base with nobody out in the final inning. Though the Ducks loaded the bases, they could not score in the frame and fell to St. Joe's 4-2.

Game Two

Briana Sandone started in the circle for the Ducks and pitched a 1-2-3 top of the first. In the home half, DeFeo led off with a single up the middle and stole second. Clair Strom drove her home with an RBI double down the leftfield line to give Stevens a 1-0 lead after one inning.

Noreen Jordan (Orangeburg, N.Y.) and Noelle Mulligan (Staten Island, N.Y.) began the second with back-to-back singles. An RBI single down the leftfield line off the bat of Kendel Aurand (McVeytown, Pa.) scored Jordan and increased the Stevens lead to 2-0 after two full frames. It was Aurand's first career at-bat.

The Lions scored an unearned run in the third inning to pull within one. Aurand made a nice sliding catch in left to prevent further damage and help maintain the Stevens lead. In the fourth, Sandone and DeGennaro walked and Aurand singled but the Ducks left the bases loaded as the inning ended.
Sandone gave up just two hits over the first five innings and allowed only the one unearned run as she continued to pitch well this season.

In the last half of the fifth the Ducks exploded for six runs on six hits to blow the game open. Mulligan, Sandone, Sarah Parker (Fredricksburg, Va.), Clair Strom (El Paso, Texas), Senkevich and Jordan all had RBI's in the inning.

Sandone had little trouble with the Lions the rest of the way, plowing through the Albright lineup despite not registering a strikeout in either game she pitched for the Ducks on Thursday. The freshman improved her record to 2-1 this season with a 1.22 earned run average.

The Ducks will close out its Florida trip on Friday when they take on North Park University and Wisconsin Lutheran College at 1 p.m.

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