The St. Lawrence Saints softball team split a pair of low-scoring games in Florida Wednesday, downing Nazareth 3-2 in game one before dropping the second contest to Middlebury 3-1 on a late game rally.
The Scarlet and Brown now stand at 2-4 on the year with four games remaining in THE Spring Games.
"We've seen a lot of good things in the last few days, and we're a better team on day three than we were on day one," said head coach
Rosie Phillips. "I'm proud of our pitchers for their combined efforts. Our team has kept consistent energy and intensity."
"We need to get our offense producing and executing in high-leverage situations in order to walk away with wins."
Maeve Thompson was 3-for-7 on the day with an RBI.
Meredith Rose also contributed three hits, including a double.
On the mound,
Sofia Berryhill contributed with five innings pitched over the course of the two games, allowing just one run and striking out five.
Layne Fritz pitched three innings of shutout ball in game two.
Izzy Melanson got her first collegiate win in game one, and had an RBI single in game two.
Game 1: St. Lawrence 3, Nazareth 2
The Saints started the game by loading the bases in the first two innings, but they were unable to capitalize on either opportunity.
In the first inning, Thompson and Rose walked and
Allison Kloft reached on an error to put three runners on.
Olivia Caporale lined into a double play to end the inning and leave the Saints off the scoreboard.
In the second, the Saints got two singles from
Zola Braswell and Thompson between a walk from
Caelen Jahnle but a flyball with two outs left three runners on base.
Nazareth made it 1-0 after the Golden Flyers got two doubles in the bottom of the second, plating the first run of the ballgame.
Berryhill, the starter for the Saints, gave them three innings of work with one earned run on two hits and five strikeouts.
In the fourth, the Scarlet and Brown came alive at the plate, scoring three runs.
Emily Siansky knocked a ball for a single, Jahnle walked, then Thompson drove in a run with an RBI knock. After that, Kloft delivered a single to score Jahnle, and then a double steal executed by Kloft and Thompson allowed Thompson to swipe home giving St. Lawrence a 3-1 advantage.
Melanson came in relief of Berryhill in the fourth. She immediately ran into trouble with a single and a double putting two runners in scoring position and one out. Despite this, she got out of the jam without surrendering a run as the first-year got a shallow fly ball to right field followed by a strikeout to preserve the two run lead.
The Golden Flyers added their second run in the fifth inning off a single, wild pitch, and another single to half the Saints lead to 3-2.
In the sixth, the lead looked to be in jeopardy after a leadoff double by Nazareth. The next batter for the Golden Flyers hit a ground ball to shortstop
Vivian Johnson. Johnson threw the runner out and first, then first baseman Sofia Camilleri made a perfect throw to Kloft to get the out on the Nazareth runner trying to advance to third. The 6-3-5 double play removed the threat for the Saints and they moved into the seventh holding a one-run lead.
The seventh inning got scary once again as two singles by the Golden Eagles put the tying run on second and the winning run on first. Although once again, Melanson escaped the jam and secured the game with a ground ball to short.
Melanson got the win as she finished the morning with four innings of work, securing eight strikeouts and allowing just one earned run.
Game 2: St. Lawrence 1, Middlebury 3
In a low-scoring affair, this game wasn't won until late.
Fritz got the start as the Saints looked to sweep the doubleheader and move to .500 on the young season. Fritz did give up five hits in three innings but she was able to escape a couple jams and leave runners stranded.
She allowed a pair of singles to the Panthers in the second but was able to leave the two runners on base after getting a lineout to erase the threat.
Middlebury once again loaded the bases in the third inning after two singles and a walk, but a flyball to right field kept the game scoreless.
Berryhill came on in relief of Fritz in the fourth. The junior proceeded to retire six of the seven batters she faced over the course of the next two innings.
Melanson came in to work the sixth, and pitched yet another inning of shutout ball.
After five and a half straight innings of scoreless softball, the Scarlet and Brown came through in the bottom of the six. After having only three hits in the first five innings, the Saints doubled this number en route to a three hit, one-run sixth inning.
Kloft and Rose started the inning with singles and Caporale was intentionally walked to load the bases with zero outs. Middlebury was able to get a couple of ground ball outs that led to force outs at home to keep it tied. For a moment, it looked like Middlebury would get out of the jam, but Melanson changed that thought. The Saints pitcher hit a pop-fly to shallow right field that dropped and scored the first run of the game.
Now with a lead, Middlebury was down to their final three outs in the top of the seventh. Melanson got the first out, but then allowed five straight singles as the Panthers connected for the first time in the game and now owned a 3-1 lead.
St. Lawrence, now playing from behind in the bottom part of the seventh, was not able to respond. Jahnle drew a leadoff walk, but then three straight flyball outs ended the game.
Next up:
The Saints will be back in action with another two games tomorrow, starting with Lawrence University at 9 a.m. and Wellesley College at 11:15 a.m.
