GAME ONE
Softball is back on Potter Field at Springfield College, as the 12th ranked Williams Ephs took on Springfield College in both teams’ season openers. A battle on the bump between Pride starter Amelia DeRosa and two-time All American Sadie Leonard was slated for an excellent matchup — setting the tone for both teams’ seasons. Not only did the lineups have to face two star pitchers, but they also battled below-freezing temperatures.
DeRosa shut down hitters early, striking out leadoff batter Kayla Chang. Fellow Ephs’ senior Vicky Trujillo Balderas softly tapped a ball to second baseman Brynlee Eckels. After a six pitch walk by left-fielder Justine Dunaway, Sydney Fleming flew out to short center to end the frame for Williams.
In the bottom of the first, Leonard picked up where she left off last year, striking out two of the first three batters she faced. The crowd groaned as both Eckels, the leadoff hitter, and DeRosa looked silly on pitches outside the strike zone. Shortly after, Ephs’ shortstop Alysa DeQuiroz moved forward to collect a tapped ground ball from Carissa Pecchia, firing it to first to leave both teams hitless after one.
The second inning started off in a similar fashion, as sophomore Katie Blanch chopped a grounder towards Eckels for an easy out and Kaia Glickman went down swinging. With two outs, DeQuiroz lined a single into right field for the first knock of Williams’ young season. DeRosa, a junior for the Pride, was not fazed by this and coaxed Emily Borazzo into a pop-up that fell into right-fielder Marissa Seyfert’s hands outside the foul lines. During the Pride half of the second, Callie Gendron swung at a moving pitch from Leonard in the lefty batters’ box for a strikeout. Michaela Ponticello also went down on three pitches for the All-American’s fourth strikeout early. First-year Katie Manzone saved Springfield from the immaculate inning — but foul tip out into catcher Sydney Fleming’s mitt.
After a long, veteran at-bat from first-year Lauren Davis resulting in a walk, the lineup reset for Williams. This time, Chang sacrificed herself to advance Davis with a bunt — preceding a groundout from Balderas. Dunaway also worked a full count for a walk, leaving Springfield with a first and third situation. Fleming popped up the ball behind home plate this time but between the wind and bright sky, no Pride player came up with the ball. Luckily, there was no damage, as she lined out softly to shortstop Katie Manzone.
To finish off the third inning, graduate outfielder Lucy Puskas was robbed of an infield single by the shortstop DeQuiroz. However, the Pride were not quick to forget about Leonard — as Kate Katsetos went down swinging on four pitches. Seyfert also tapped a ball on the ground to DeQuiroz for a quick three outs.
The fourth set of at-bats for the Ephs started off with another routine ground ball toward Manzone, but this time the throw was too low for Katsetos to pick, resulting in an error on the young shortstop. Another sacrifice, this time from Glickman, advanced her teammate to second base. Fortunately for the Pride, Emilia Santiago stopped a ball down the third base line and made a close play along with DeRosa’s fourth strikeout on the afternoon to escape the potential jam. Both Eckels and Santiago struckout during the Pride’s half of the inning, but Springfield secured its first hit of the game after Pecchia grounded a ball into left field. Pinch runner Lyndsay Dontson promptly stole second base before a Gendron single and Ponticello walk provided the Pride with their best chance of the game. With the bases loaded, Manzone grounded out toward second base to keep the game knotted at 0-0.
Both teams went down in order in the fifth inning, as both Davis and Chang grounded out to Manzone and Ponticello made a good play in left to shut down Williams. For Springfield, Puskas fouled out to right, Katseto popped out to DeQuiroz and Seyfert went down on three consecutive pitches.
The Ephs broke through in the top of the sixth, despite starting their scoring with two outs. Blanch tripled past the outstretched arms of Seyfert in right, Manzone could not make the run-saving play in the next at-bat to stop Blanch from scoring. Shortly after, Santiago recorded an important third strikeout to limit any damage.
During Springfield’s sixth, Eckels worked back from a deep 0-2 count but ultimately struck out. The following batter, DeRosa, finally broke free from a full count battle for a single up the middle. Pecchia quickly rocketed a ball off the Ephs’ DeQuiroz’s glove to put two on with one out — opening the door for a Pride comeback. Following a strikeout from Gendron, Ponticello took a five pitch walk to load the bases again for the freshman, Manzone. Unfortunately for the Pride, Manzone was overpowered by Leonard and went down on three pitches to end the inning.
With a season-opening win in sight, Williams sent two balls towards Eckels at second base. The first a routine pop-out, and the second a ground ball requiring Eckels to drop to one knee and make the tough play. Santiago continued the stellar defense in the seventh, as the Pride looked to avoid their first loss. Paskas flew out toward deep center to open the inning, and Kasetos popped up into the windy air where the second baseman Balderas made the catch. The graduate student Seyfert fell behind in the count 1-2, and promptly ground out to DeQuiroz again to end the first game.
Graduate assistant coach Sam Garcia was just happy to see her team back out on the field today — noting the plus pitching from Leonard, who finished the game with 13 strikeouts.
Garcia reflected that despite the weather, “we can control how we approach every game, and we had some great spots defensively. The energy didn’t waver and we didn’t waver from competition either.”
GAME TWO
Following a closely battled 1-0 loss to Williams earlier in the afternoon, Springfield College softball continued its season opening home stand at Potter Field — resulting in a 11-0 run-rule loss. First-year pitcher Abby Robinson took the mound in her first career start for the Pride, and the Ephs’ sophomore Katie Blanch hurled a five inning shut-out.
In the top of the first inning, Williams did not wait to take advantage. Leadoff hitter and Williams’ senior Kayla Chang tapped a single up through, and her teammate Vicky Trujillo Balderas followed suit to put runners on first and second. Sophomore Justine Dunaway worked her way up to a full count and drew a walk off of Robinson. Another senior, Sydney Fleming fell behind 0-2 in the next at-bat and knocked a line drive towards Pride right fielder Sarah Falcone.
With the bases already loaded and Chang scoring, an error on the subsequent throw home allowed another run to score on the play. Williams proved to not be satisfied with their 2-0 advantage and pitcher Katie Blanch reached on a fielder’s choice where Dunaway scored another unearned run for the visitors. With Blanch advancing to second, first-year April Medrano grounded out to first and Fleming scored. Two consecutive walks would fill the base paths again for the Ephs. This time, Robinson made an error of her own, and Blanch scored the fourth unearned run of the game and the score was 5-0 with only recording two total outs.
Because of the early deficit, Robinson was pulled for her freshman counterpart Julia Rimshnick after pitching just two outs of softball. With the bases still loaded — Rimshnick attempted to limit the damage. With Williams having already hit through their lineup and gunning for more, the two-hole hitter Balderas singled towards left-field, scoring Lauren Davis but a successful relay and some sloppy baserunning saw first-year Aleks Albert tagged out at home — ending the unideal start for Springfield.
The game remained quiet for three more innings of softball despite two errors for the Ephs’ second baseman Balderas. To lead off the fourth, Williams’ drew two walks off of Rimschnick. Pinch hitter Sydney Fleming launched a triple into right field and both runners scored just the third earned run of the game and the Pride found themselves in a 8-0 hole. Fleming promptly scored on a Blanch groundout to keep pushing their advantage.
With a mercy rule loss looming over the Pride, they were going to attempt to salvage what was left of the game or score in order to continue playing. Williams’ began to let less experienced players gaining reps as the first year Dani Jackman came in to pinch hit for Davis, and grounded out to 3rd after a nice pick in the dirt from Pride first baseman Kate Katsetos. Ephs’ catcher Albert lined a ball into the right-center gap for a double and Chang would secure her 2-4 performance on the day with a triple — scoring the runner on second.
Rimshnick felt good about her performance this afternoon, commenting “[i]t’s easy when you have your team behind you and knowing you’re all in it together.” Ultimately getting pulled for the third first-year pitcher of the game — righty Lily McCauliffe. She quickly walked the first batter she faced, who stole second because of Chang’s looming presence on third base. Dunaway reached on the third and final Pride error of the game, scoring Chang and tallying Williams’ 11th run of the game.
Two walks, two strikeouts and a game-ending pop-out from third baseman Amelia DeRosa ended the fifth frame quickly for the Pride, forcing them to fall to 0-2 on the year while 12th ranked Williams moved to 2-0. Graduate coach Sam Garcia noted that Williams is a tough team to face and thinks her team needs to “just keep being hungry and competitive every pitch.” The Pride continue their season tomorrow afternoon with another home doubleheader slated against the University of Hartford Hawks.
Photo Courtesy of Springfield Athletics