April 26: First-year
Laura Finley drove in all three St. Lawrence runs in the second game of a Liberty League doubleheader with Rochester on Saturday afternoon, but the Yellowjackets hung on for a 4-3 win after shutting out the Saints, 4-0, in the first game to complete the sweep. Senior
Kyle Plimpton combined for 12 strikeouts in 14 innings pitched for St. Lawrence.
Both teams were regionally-ranked headed into today's double, as Rochester is No. 2 in the Northeast region, while St. Lawrence came in at No. 9. The Saints are now 13-13 overall and finish 5-7 in the Liberty League this season; the losses eliminated the postseason play. Meanwhile, Rochester clinched the conference's regular season title as they finish with a record of 10-2 against league opponents.
Plimpton limited the Yellowjackets to just one hit through the first four innings of game one before a pair of singles hits in the fifth resulted in the visitors' first and game-winning run.
Rochester added three in the seventh, starting with a pinch-hit homerun to left center by Ashley Amidon and a single by Wayson and a foul-out sacrifice fly by Eleni Weschler that plated Shelby Corning and Kayla Kibling, respectively.
Plimpton finished with eight strikeouts in game one, while the Saints recorded four hits of the Yellowjackets' Brittany Grage; one each from
Aisha O'Connor,
Brady Cooper,
Kelsey Murphy and
Jordan Sheridan.
In game two, the team's traded runs in the third inning with Finley driving in her first of the day on a double to left center that scored
Jacqueline Dufour. Dufour led off the inning with a single down the left field line.
Rochester scored two in the top of the fourth and added the game-winning run in the fifth off a sac fly by Amidon to plate Weschsler.
Although the Saints answered with two in the bottom half of the frame when Finley's single to left scored O'Connor and pinch runner
Taylor Owen to cut the Rochester lead to 4-3, they would strand four runners in the final three innings without finding an equalizer.
In addition to Finley, O'Connor and Dufour each had multi-hit games for St. Lawrence, while Plimpton stuck out four.
The Saints honored seniors O'Connor, Cooper and Plimpton on the field at the conclusion of game two as part of the team's Senior Day celebration, as the trio played their final Liberty League home games this weekend.
The Scarlet and Brown will wrap up the 2015 campaign with a non-conference doubleheader against Elmira on the Saints Softball Field on Tuesday.Â
