Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Meredith Rose,
Caelen Jahnle, and the pitching staff highlighted the first two wins of the day for the St. Lawrence Saints softball team, 3-1 over Lawrence and 4-3 in eight innings against Wellesley Thursday morning in Clermont, Fla.
"We saw an awesome fight for two team wins today," said Rosie Philips, the Saints' head coach. "I'm proud of how we set the tone and responded under pressure in both games. We pushed runs across when needed and made necessary and timely adjustments."
At the plate, Rose was 4-for-7 with two doubles and two runs batted in and Jahnle was 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored.
Maeve Thompson and
Vivian Johnson also had two hits each for the Saints.
On the bump, none of the three Saints pitchers allowed an earned run.
Sofia Berryhill pitched four innings allowing two hits en route to a win in game one and a save in game two.
Layne Fritz pitched 4.1 innings of shutout softball, striking out four and getting the win against Wellesley.
Izzy Melanson pitched six and two-thirds' innings and fanned six batters over the course of the two games, earning the save in the first.
"Our pitchers combined for an excellent showing and we were able to capitalize on our opponents' mistakes," Phillips continued.
The Saints' record has improved to 4-4 on the year with one game remaining on the schedule in Florida.
Game 1: St. Lawrence 3, Lawrence 1
The Saints jumped out to an early lead as they got a run in the opening frame. Thompson started the bottom of the first off with a double, then Rose hit a single to drive Thompson home.
St. Lawrence didn't have anything to worry about in the first few innings with
Sofia Berryhill on the mound. The junior gave the Scarlet and Brown three innings of work, striking out two and allowing just a pair of hits with no runs.
In the bottom of the third, the Saints got an insurance run to expand their lead to 2-0. Three singles by
Caelen Jahnle,
Vivian Johnson, and
Meredith Rose scored Jahnle to double the St. Lawrence lead.
Layne Fritz came on in relief of Berryhill and pitched two more shutout innings in the fourth and fifth with one strikeout.
In the sixth,
Izzy Melanson subbed in for Fritz. Two singles and a passed ball gave Lawrence two runners in scoring position with one out. The next batter hit a ground ball to Johnson at shortstop, who decided to go home with the throw. A great throw by Johnson and a nice tag by
Emily Crain got the runner out at home in the nick of time. However, the next Vikings hitter reached on an infield error, scoring their first run of the game. Melanson was able to get the final out of the inning to keep the Saints in front 2-1.
The Saints got that run back in the top of the seventh, as Rose made things happen once again. The senior from Endwell, N.Y. led off the inning with a double, advanced to third on a groundout, then was driven home by
Zola Braswell's single to get the lead back up to two.
Lawrence started the seventh with a single, but Melanson quickly induced a double play and another ground out to seal the victory.
Game 2: St. Lawrence 4, Wellesley 3 (8 innings)
After an uneventful first, the Saints appeared on the scoreboard in the second. After Rose doubled and
Sofia Camillieri singled, an error by the Wellesley pitcher allowed
Olivia Caporale to reach and Rose to score the game's first run.
Melanson closed out the last game and then got the start in game two. She didn't allow a run in the first four innings and finished with six strikeouts for the game.
As Melanson kept the Blue off the scoreboard, the Saints got a couple more runs in fifth. Caporale singled, Jahnle reached on an error, and Thompson singled to load the bases. Johnson then drove in the first run via a single to right field, and after that Kloft reached on a fielder's choice to put the second run of the inning on the board, giving the Scarlet and Brown a 3-0 lead.
The fifth inning saw the Blue tie the game at 3 apiece. A double, an error, and a single gave them the first and second runs, and then another double tied the game. Fritz came in to pitch after this extra base hit and the sophomore got a strikeout to end the inning and strand a runner on second.
In the seventh, with the game still tied, Wellesley had back-to-back singles to put the winning run in scoring position, but Fritz was able to get out of the inning with a ground ball out. That moved the game to extra innings.
The Saints were able to capitalize in the eighth.
Maeve Thompson started the inning on second base and immediately was moved up to third off a sacrifice bunt by Johnson. Following the bunt, Kloft came through with a single to give the Scarlet and Brown a 4-3 lead.
In the bottom of the eighth, Berryhill came in on to close the game and did just that. The Blue runner on second was able to advance to third via a sacrifice bunt, but Berryhill induced a shallow fly ball and a ground out to end the game and leave the runner on third.
Next up:
The Saints' will go for the sweep of their Thursday contests when they face Keuka at 6:30 p.m.
