NAPLES, Fla. – The Curry College softball team completed their fourth day of games at the North Collier Regional Park in Naples, Fla. as spring break rolls on. The Colonels were shutout in their first match up of the day against the University of Pittsburgh, Bradford (Pitt-Bradford), before turning things around and nearly dealing the same fate to the Gothic Knights of New Jersey City University (NJCU) in game two.
Game One: Pitt-Bradford 3, Curry 0
Curry faced an early deficit, surrendering a run in the first then doing themselves no favors in the following inning. Four errors in the second frame led to a pair of Panther runs to extend their lead to 3-0, as Kendra Colegrove (Elkland, Pa.) and Gabby Carpenter (Olean, N.Y.) each crossed the plate, unearned. Pitcher Carrigan Costello (Wolcott, Conn.) would remain in the game and regain her composure in the circle, but the Curry bats struggled to get anything going against Panther starter Jordan Uhing (Aliquippa, Pa.). After collecting a hit in each of the first four innings, the Colonels failed to put a runner on base over the final three frames, as Uhing polished off the shutout.
Just three Panthers managed to record a hit in the pitchers' duel with Sophia Fratercangelo (Olean, N.Y.) leading the way with a pair of hits and an RBI. Liz Dzurisin (Parma, Ohio) also grabbed an RBI while Carpenter crossed the plate twice. Jordan Perzan (Burlington, Conn.) was the only Colonel to post a multi-hit day, going 2-for-3, while Costello moves to 2-2 on the year with the loss, despite an impressive complete game effort in which she gave up just one earned run on four hits while grabbing a strikeout. Outshining the sophomore in this one, though, was Uhing, improving to 3-2 with a complete game shutout that saw four strikeouts and just four Colonel hits.
The Panthers return to .500 with a 5-5 record, after they dropped their first contest of the day to Lesley by a score of 7-6. Pitt-Bradford will have an off day tomorrow before returning to the CenturyLink Sports Complex in Fort Myers, Fla. to face North Central (Ill.) on field #2 at 9 a.m. then staying put to take on Brockport at 11 a.m. The game one loss put the Colonels' record at 3-4 heading into game two.
Game Two: Curry 6, New Jersey City (NJCU) 3
In the early innings of the contest, the game looked similar to game one, as the Gothic Knights collected just a pair of hits over the first three innings while the Colonels were looking at the wrong end of a no-hitter. In the bottom of the fourth inning, however, the Curry bats were ready to come alive.
Liana Duarte (Taunton, Mass.) led off the inning by reaching base on a hit-by-pitch, then advanced to third as NJCU third baseman Dulce Almonte (Jersey City, N.J.) threw the ball into center trying to force her out at second on a grounder by Michaela Colleran (East Bridgewater, Mass.). With two runners aboard, Perzan reached on a second consecutive error, which brought in the first run of the game. The next four batters would reach base thanks to a third error, a walk, and a pair of singles, making the score 4-0 before an out had been recorded. After a pop up retired Allison May (West Bridgewater, Mass.), a sac fly and the fourth error of the inning brought in two more runs for Curry, making the score 6-0 as the teams headed into the fifth.
After each team registered a hit in their respective halves of the fifth, it was NJCU's turn to deal some damage. Christina Mezey (Jersey City, N.J.) set the tone by leading off the inning with a double, but got held at third as Maria Montes (Jersey City, N.J.) singled to right a batter later. A groundout to the shortstop Sienna Kulpa (Taunton, Mass.) would push across the first Gothic Knight run of the day, which they would build on after a two-out error extended the inning and drove Montes home to make the score 6-2. Almonte singled home Arianna Scrimo (Kearny, N.J.) to cut what was once a six-run lead in half, but May escaped the jam by inducing a grounder to second to strand a pair of base runners. Curry was unable to get any of the runs back in the bottom half of the inning, but May made the matter moot, retiring the Gothic Knights 1-2-3 in the seventh to lock up the 6-3 win.
Colleran, Johnson, and Newcomb recorded the only three Colonel hits of the game, while NJCU managed nine hits, highlighted by multi-hit days from Hannah Gavin (Bordentown, N.J.) (2-for-4) and Scrimo (2-for-3). Mezey carries the weight of the loss and goes to 1-4 on the year, despite giving up no earned runs over six innings of work. May picks up her first win of the year thanks to a complete game effort that saw seven strikeouts and just a single earned run.
With the win, Curry gets back to even at 4-4 while the Gothic Knights sink to 1-8. The Colonels wrap up their spring break trip tomorrow with a 9 a.m. tilt with Brockport and an 11 a.m. contest with SUNY Canton. Both games will be played on field #3 at the North Collier Regional Park in Naples, Fla. NJCU will play their second game of the day later on against Nazareth, remaining on field #3 in Naples for the game. They will also end their Florida slate with a double header tomorrow, drawing RIT at 9 a.m. and Knox College at 1 p.m. The Knights will remain at North Collier Regional for the pair of games.
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