HOBOKEN, N.J. (March 29, 2013) – The Stevens Institute of Technology softball team will host Empire 8 Conference rival Ithaca College (5-5) tomorrow, Saturday, March 30 in a doubleheader to open both teams' conference schedule.
 
Game notes
 
Ithaca has gotten off to a surprising 5-5 start given the Bombers' preseason No. 21 national ranking, most recently having a three-game win streak snapped in an 8-0 (6 inn.) loss at No. 17 Salisbury State University two weeks ago.  Salisbury put up four runs in the second inning, tacked another on in each of the next two innings and added two more in the fifth to lead, 7-0.  Ithaca, meanwhile, suffered seven strikeouts over the first three innings alone and barely threatened to score, with the Bombers' best chance coming on a pair of leadoff singles that did not advance past second base in the top of the fourth.  Salisbury sophomore Rachel Johnson, who would punch out 11 batters in the game, hit a batter to start the fifth inning but struck out the side to come away unscathed.  Salisbury then added the necessary eighth run in the bottom of the sixth to end the game with only three Bombers having reached base.
 
Freshman pitcher and designated player Brooke Powers (Newton, N.J.) leads the Bombers this spring with a .389/.478/.667 slash line in just 18 at-bats and is tied with sophomore infielder Francesca Busa (St. James, N.Y.) for the team RBI lead at seven.  Busa is tied with junior infielder Julianne Vincent (Stamford, Conn.) for the team lead with eight runs, with both posting batting averages of .306.  Freshman infielder Casey Gavin (Wallingford, Conn.) is hitting .364 with a .417 on-base percentage and is tied with Busa, with both a perfect 2-2 on stolen base attempts.  Junior outfielder Rachel Dell'Orto (East Islip, N.Y.) also ranks among the team leaders in multiple categories, including average (.290) and slugging percentage (.387).  In the circle, junior Sam Bender (Levittown, Pa.) has tallied three wins on a 2.88 ERA, striking out 12 and walking 10 in 34 innings.  Freshman Allison Macari (Stamford, Conn.) is the other starter in the rotation and has recorded two wins on a 4.36 ERA with 14 strikeouts and 10 walks over 25.2 innings.
 
The Ducks picked up their first win of the season last week and most recently dropped their home-opening doubleheader to Ramapo College on Wednesday.  The Ducks went down early in Game One before taking the lead in the bottom of the third inning.  Senior centerfielder Lauren Hurley (Sparta, N.J.) drew a leadoff walk and moved to third base on a single by freshman left fielder Gavriella Risman-Jones (New Boston, N.H.), who promptly stole second.  Junior shortstop Danielle DeFeo (Andover, N.J.) then added to her team-leading RBI count with a single to left field which scored Hurley while DeFeo and Risman-Jones each advanced a base on the throw.  Two batters later freshman right fielder Kelsey Dempsey (Broomfield, Colo.) smashed a double into the gap to score both runners, and came home herself on a single up the middle by junior third basemanStephanie Senkevich (Washington, N.J.) to give Stevens the 4-3 lead.  Ramapo regained the lead immediately, but Stevens responded as well to tie things up at 7-7 before the Roadrunners put up another three in the top of the seventh.  Stevens managed to get one back and had the makings of a rally going, but came up just short, falling 10-8.
 
Game Two saw the Roadrunners jump out to another early lead, loading the bases with no outs and scoring two runs on a walk and hit-by-pitch.  Ramapo tacked on three more on singles down the left field line and up the middle to lead 5-0. The Ducks had a chance to score in the bottom of the second, loading the bases with just one out, but a play at the plate and strikeout ended the inning.  Ramapo increased the lead to six with a leadoff home run in the third inning and made it 10-0 in the fifth, after which Stevens was unable to get the three necessary runs to prolong the game.  DeFeo was 2-3 with a walk, run and RBI out of the leadoff spot in Game One while Dempsey went 2-4 with a double, run and three RBI.  Sophomore first baseman Noelle Mulligan (Staten Island, N.Y.) was 1-2 with two walks, a run and RBI and Risman-Jones finished 1-4 with a double, two runs, an RBI and her fifth stolen base of the season.  Sophomore Brianna Sandone (Haddon Township, N.J.) took the loss in both games.
 
Senior Molly Herforth (Pompton Plains, N.J.) leads the team with a .364/.462/.455 slash line, although in just 11 at-bats.  Freshman second baseman Sydney Spitz (Shelton, Conn.) ranks second on the squad with a .324 batting average, is tied for second with DeFeo in on-base percentage (.395) and ranks third in slugging percentage (.352).  Dempsey is slugging .371 in the heart of the order but has been done all her work over the past seven games, during which time she has recorded an incredible .421/.500/.684 line, five RBI and the team's longest on-base streak of the season, having reached safely in all seven games.  Sandone and Herforth have split the pitching duties, with Sandone going 39.2 innings while Herforth has thrown 33.1 and is coming off her best game of the season, a three-hit shutout at New Jersey City University that earned her Empire 8 Pitcher of the Week recognition.
 
Ithaca took both games of last year's matchup, outscoring Stevens 9-0 over the doubleheader in which then-sophomore Kayla Berardi (Brookfield, Conn.) allowed just four total earned runs to keep the Ducks within striking distance all afternoon.
 
Head Coach Erica Mehalick and the Ducks will look to come out on top this time as they host the Bombers tomorrow, Saturday, March 30 at 1 p.m. at the Weehawken Waterfront.  The game will be broadcast via Live Stats, which can be accessed here.