Devils take pitchers' duel, drop slugfest
Fredonia got another solid outing from senior righthander Kelsey Gannett (Endwell, N.Y./Union-Endicott) for a 4-2 SUNYAC softball win over New Paltz in the first game of a doubleheader.
It was also the 300th career win for Fredonia head coach Tony Ciccarello -- who celebrated a birthday on Friday. In his second year with the Blue Devils, and 14th overall, Ciccarello has a career record of 300-174. He coached 11 seasons at Geneseo and one at New Paltz before joining the Blue Devils.
The teams combined for 34 hits in the second game -- a 13-6 win by New Paltz.
The split left Fredonia with a 10-3 record in the SUNYAC -- only the fourth time in the program's 20-year history the Blue Devils have had at least 10 conference wins in a season. They are 13-12 overall.
New Paltz headed out of town with a 6-4 SUNYAC mark. The Hawks are 14-11 overall.
Gannett's Game 1 performance was a complete-game seven-hitter with 10 strikeouts. She improved her mark to 8-3 this spring. Her teammates staked Gannett to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. An error and a hit batter set the stage for a two-run double by Alyssa Morgan (Homer, N.Y./Homer). Maggie Paras (Florida, N.Y./S.S. Seward) brought home Morgan with a single. After New Paltz made it 3-1 with a run in the top of the sixth, the Blue Devils scored a response run on three consecutive singles by three freshmen -- Paras, Lauren Pixley (Hamburg, N.Y./Frontier), and Nikki Lent (Yaphank, N.Y./Longwood).
In the second game, the slugfest included in 22 hits by the Hawks -- four each by Julia Perhacs, Fallon Spriggs, Meg Brewer, and Nicole DeCosta -- and 12 hits by the Blue Devils, including three consecutive doubles by junior Madeline Medina (Hamburg, N.Y./Hamburg). Medina also had two RBI and in the process took over the team lead in doubles (7) and RBI (16). Paras, Jess Lauck (Buffalo, N.Y./Kenmore West), and Lindsey Forness (Allegany, N.Y./Allegany-Limestone) each had two hits for the Blue Devils. Freshman righthander Megan Degroat (New Windsor, N.Y./Cornwall) was tagged with the pitching loss.
