New Paltz takes two from Blue Devils
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Softball
NEW PALTZ, N.Y. - A lack of timely hitting proved Fredonia State's undoing Sunday while dropping a SUNYAC doubleheader to the New Paltz Hawks.
The Blue Devils (10-7-1, 2-4 SUNYAC) lost the first game, 6-0, despite getting runners to third base three times, twice with less than two outs.
The second game, a 5-1 loss, was equally as frustrating.
Freshman righthander Jennifer Tighe (Hamburg/Frontier) was the losing pitcher in the first game. She and New Paltz's Devon Kelly were locked in a scoreless duel until the a two-out single by Rose Dovi put the Hawks on top, 1-0, in the last of the fourth.
The Hawks broke the game open with five runs in the sixth inning, but not before the Blue Devils squandered a double by freshman Lauren Larson (Lakewood/Panama) leading off the game, back-to-back singles by junior Rebecca Zimmerman (Jamestown) and freshman Michelle Lattner (Cheektowaga/West Seneca East) to start the Fredonia State fourth, and a first-and-third chance with two outs in the fifth.
The Hawks broke on top 2-0 in the first inning off Game 2 starter Zimmerman, added a run in the third for a 3-0 lead, and scored twice in the fifth off freshman reliever Ashley LaPorta (Buffalo/Mount St. Mary).
The Blue Devils wasted a lead-off double in the second by freshman Courtney Wight (Bolivar/Bolivar-Richburg), had runners on first-and-third with one out but did not score in the third, and ran themselves out of a bigger inning while tallying their only run of the day in the fifth.
Freshman Katie Turvey (Lockport/Depew) opened the inning with a double, freshman Gabrielle Ciccarello (Rochester/Greece Olympia) singled to put runners on first and third, and Larson blooped a single over the shortstop's head. Aggressive base running proved costly as Turvey was thrown out at the plate and Ciccarello at third. A single by freshman Brittany Lis (Lancaster) drove in Larson with the lone run but the rally ended there.
Zimmerman was tagged with the loss while New Paltz's Courtney Costello was the winning pitcher.
The Blue Devils are scheduled to play at home Monday at 3 p.m., a non-conference doubleheader vs. Penn State Behrend, before returning to SUNYAC competition Tuesday against Geneseo, also on the Fredonia State campus. Should predicted wet and cold weather wipe out both home dates, the Blue Devils would return to action Friday at Oswego.