Rochester Rallies to Earn Sweep from Saints
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Tara FreemanLauren Weisbarth '13 was 2-for-3 with an RBI in game two against Rochester.
Apr. 22: The St. Lawrence University softball team dropped a pair of Liberty League games on Friday afternoon in Canton, NY to the University of Rochester by the scores of 7-0 and 8-6. The Saints had a 5-0 lead in game two, but the Yellowjackets used a five-run sixth inning en route to the conference sweep.
Rochester improves to 22-12 on the year thanks to a pair of victories by pitcher Madeline Skellie, who moves to 12-5. Meanwhile, the Saints fell to 8-14 overall after having their current losing skid reach six games.
The visitors seized control of the opening game with a five-run third. After taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning, Rochester loaded the bases in the third which led to Amanda Klug being hit by a pitch from senior Rachel Duffany for a 2-0 cushion. M.C. Wagner then delivered a bases-clearing triple to make it 5-0 before being driven in by a sac fly from Erin Clark to cap the offense at 6-0.
St. Lawrence failed to get the bats going against Skellie, who allowed only one hit to sophomore Lauren Weisbarth in the first inning. Rochester's Liz Slupinski's double in the seventh inning drove in Natalee Sassaman to bring the game to its final of 7-0.
Duffany suffered the loss, falling to 2-9 on the year, after allowing six hits and six earned runs in 7.0 innings. Skellie allowed only four base runners and had five strikeouts.
The second half of Friday's doubleheader started much differently, though, as St. Lawrence built a 5-0 lead through four innings. The Saints scored two runs on three hits in the first frame with the big hit coming from Khalshia White, who delievered a two-out RBI triple for a 2-0 lead.
St. Lawrence failed to score in the second inning after loading the bases with no one out against Sara Hutchinson. However, the Scarlet and Brown did put up three runs in the fourth on three hits including RBI's from Weisbarth, Chelsea Hanno and Rebecca Allen for a 5-0 lead. The runs forced Hutchinson from the game as Skellie came in for relief.
Rochester would get back into the game with a three-run fifth inning before storming into the lead in the top of the sixth. Lindsay Macaluso stole home to get her team within one before Slupinski doubled to left to tie the game at 5-5. A critical error by St. Lawrence allowed two more runs to cross the plate before Meghan Hennessy singled home Kristen Baldino for an 8-5 lead.
St. Lawrence would try to rally in the bottom of the seventh, as Allen doubled and came around to score on a Rochester error. However, Skellie struck out both White and Duffany, who represented the tying runs, to finish off an 8-6 victory for the Yellowjackets.
Goodemote fell to 1-4 on the year after allowing five earned runs on eight hits. She struck out five hitters and walked four, while Skellie got the win after allowing one run on one hit in 3.1 innings.
St. Lawrence will look to snap its current losing streak when they head to Plattsburgh, NY to take on Plattsburgh State for a non-conference doubleheader beginning at 3:00pm on Monday, April 25.