Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 12, 2014) – The Stevens Institute of Technology softball team secured back-to-back walk-off wins against Elmira on Saturday, winning game one 2-1 before completing the sweep with a 3-2 win in game two.
The wins moved the Ducks record to 21-5, tying them for the most wins in school history. With the losses Elmira dropped to 3-7.
Stevens 2, Elmira 1 Stevens got the scoring going early when senior
Danielle DeFeo led-off the game with a single, and later scored on a wild pitch. Senior
Kayla Berardi held the lead after working around a lead-off single in the second before Elmira senior starter Alex Puglisi did the same in the bottom of the inning.
Stevens threatened in the third with runners at first and second and one out, but Puglisi was able to get out of the jam with a ground-out fielder's choice off the bat of freshman
Jessica Rees, and a strikeout of freshman
Emily Sellitti to end the inning.
Elmira mounted a threat of their own in the top of the fourth by loading the bases with two outs, but Berardi struck-out junior Katie Dore to get out of the jam. Stevens returned with a rally in the bottom of the inning, but with the bases loaded and two-outs, sophomore
Gavriella Risman-Jones flied out to left to end the inning.
Puglisi helped her own cause with a lead-off home run to left in the fifth, but Berardi escaped further trouble thanks to a double-play where the Elmira runner at second was thrown out in a ground ball pick-off before the batter was thrown out trying to reach second. The Ducks went down in order in the fifth before Berardi escaped a first and second jam in the sixth with a groundout to short.
Berardi retired the side in order in the seventh, setting-up the Stevens walk-off. With freshman
Gina Schnecker on second after pinch-running for junior
Jamie DeGennaro, Sellitti ripped a line-drive single that went off the shortstop's glove, allowing Schnecker to score the winning run.
Berardi went the distance, striking out five to earn her tenth win of the season. Offensively, DeGennaro led the team with two hits.
Stevens 3, Elmira 2 Elmira mounted a rally in the first after Dore and Puglisi reached to lead-off the game, but junior pitcher
Brianna Sandone worked-out of the jam, retiring the final three batters to end the threat.
Both teams traded zeroes in the second, but Elmira broke-through in the third. Dore led-off the inning with a walk, then stole second and scored off a single from freshman Cassidy Genco. Senior hurler Emelie Rogers made the lead stand with a one-two-three inning in the Ducks half of the inning.
Elmira rallied again in the fourth after they put runners at second and third with two outs, but Sellitti made a diving play on a ground-ball at third to end the inning. Stevens capitalized on the momentum, and after junior
Jamie DeGennaro singled with one-out, Sellitti blasted a home-run to left to give the Ducks a 2-1 lead.
After a scoreless fifth, Elmira tied the game with an RBI double from senior Mikayla Bean in the sixth. The Soaring Eagles bid for more with runners at second and third, but a diving catch from sophomore
Sydney Spitz at second and a strikeout from Berardi on in relief preserved the tie.
In the bottom of the seventh, Spitz singled to lead-off and reached second off an error from short. Spitz then stole third, but Puglisi retired the final three batters in relief to send the game to extras. In the eighth, Elmira had runners at first and third with one out, but DeFeo alertly threw home on a groundball to short to get the second out before Berardi induced a fly-out to end the inning.
Stevens capitalized on the play and won the game in the eighth. Risman-Jones led-off the inning with a single and advanced to second on DeGennaro's ground-out. After a passed ball put her at third, Rees doubled to left to push across the winning run.
Berardi picked-up her eleventh win of the season in relief while Sellitti led the team with two RBIs. Risman-Jones scored once off two hits.
Coming Up The Ducks won't have much time to savor the wins, as they'll host Utica College tomorrow in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Live stats will be available for both games on stevensducks.com, and there will be free hot-dogs given out to the first 30 people in attendance. Additionally, free bag clips will he handed out while supplies last.
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