GAME ONE
A new season means new opponents and matchups. In their first all time game against the University of Hartford, Springfield College softball notched its maiden win of the season, 8-4.
The Hawks went hitless in the top of the first, hitting two grounders to Pride first baseman Kate Katsetos and shortstop Katie Manzone. Hartford ended the away team’s half of the frame with a shallow pop-up to left fielder Michaela Ponticello. Springfield started off in a similar fashion after one and two-hole hitters Lucy Puskas and Amelia DeRosa went down swinging. The Pride reversed this trend quickly, as junior Carissa Pecchia laced a ground ball up the middle for the first hit of the ballgame. Catcher Callie Gendron also set the tone for her afternoon early by skying a double off the bottom of the right-center fence. Hawks’ shortstop Gia Miccio then got under a popup from Ponticello to leave Gendron and Pecchia stranded.
Despite it being another windy day on Potter Field, shallow fly balls continued to soar through the air — and two Hartford hitters popped balls into the hands of second baseman Brynlee Eckels. In the bottom half of the inning, Lucky Puskas also popped a ball to Eckels’ opposing counterpart — Sarah Serrano.
DeRosa, who also took the mound for the Pride in game one, continued to shut down the Hawks during the third inning. They were set down with a grounder to Manzone, with the throw picked by Katsetos, a runner’s interference call by touching a bunt, and a stellar play from Ponticello — who grabbed a fly ball over her head. Springfield scored their first runs of the season in the bottom of the third inning and with one out Pecchia repeated her ground ball mastery for another single. Third base coach Sam Garcia could be seen smiling at Gendron before her at-bat, and jumped in exclamation while sending Pecchia’s pinch runner, Lyndsay Donston, towards home plate after Gendron launched another double into the outfield. After Ponticello walked, the first year Manzone would come through for the Pride — knocking a first pitch line drive past the Hawks’ shortstop’s glove to score Gendron. Eckles, the seventh hitter in the lineup for Springfield, walked to load the bases for Katsetos. She knocked a single into center to score Ponticello and Manzone, but Eckles got thrown out advancing to third base.
Hartford took this as a wake-up call, and after a single, Olivia Wolk homered to deep right field. Her homer also scored Alexis Sealy, closing the gap to a 4-2 advantage for Springfield. One of DeRosa’s four strikeouts that afternoon followed. She felt energized today and “very supported when on the mound. Somebody always picks me up along the way.”
Neither team scored again until the bottom of the fifth, when the Pride broke away with four extra insurance runs. Rachel Powers lined an RBI double to left field, this time scoring Eckels. Two batters later, Puskas, the Pride’s leadoff batter, doubled to center allowing Powers to reach home plate safely. DeRosa continued to contribute at the plate as well, the third Springfield double of the inning put them up 7-2. Gendron continued her stellar afternoon by singling and scoring her batterymate.
Hartford attempted to come back in the top of the sixth, but it proved to be too little too late. A walk and fielder’s choice put a runner on second for the Hawks — shortly after a wild pitch from DeRosa moved the runner, Katrina Baran to third. She was eventually knocked in by a liner up the middle from Sealy who scored on the following double from Wolk. Wolk, who hit .462 last year for the Hawks, will look to guide her team into their first season eligible for a conference tournament bid. The Pride held the 8-2 score until the very end, taking a 1-0 all time record against Hartford.
GAME TWO
In the second game of the afternoon, Springfield College jumped out to another early advantage over Hartford. DeRosa walked to give the Pride their first base runner of the game, and Pecchia ricocheted a hard liner off of the Hartford pitcher’s glove leaving runners on first and second. Gendron continued her stellar afternoon both behind the dish and at the plate, doubling to right field and scoring DeRosa.
“I’m a fifth-year so I have gotten to know these situations well,” Gendron said, “Going to the plate confident and having confidence in myself before an at-bat is so important.”
The Pride jumped out to a 2-0 advantage in the second inning when Marissa Seyfert hustled out an infield single directed towards Miccio. Two wild pitches and a fielder’s choice from Puskas scored Seyfert — who was quick around the bases.
Both teams went scoreless in the third, but the Hawks took their first lead of the series in the top of the fourth frame. Wolk, Hartford’s batting leader last season, crushed a triple down the right field line and scored after Adelie Bebee hit a line drive into shallow right field. Bebee scored her own run after freshman Ella Zobel hit a double barely inside the left field foul line. With the game tied 2-2, Hartford finally led the game after a setup walk and an infield single from Sydney Matz — hit to her highschool teammate, Eckels. Pinch hitter Holly Myers grounded the ball hard towards center field to put the Hawks up 4-2.
This lead did not last long, because the Pride fought back in the fifth inning. DeRosa singled past a diving Muccio and Pecchia followed suit with a liner to center. Third baseman Emilia Santiago doubled past the diving Hawks’ center fielder, where DeRosa and pinch runner Arianna Hammer scored. Eckels drove another ball up the middle, and Katsetos knocked Santiago with a single to shallow right field — putting the Pride up 5-4 once again.
In the ultimately deciding sixth inning of the game, seven runs were scored. The scoring started with the Hawks’ sophomore Matz hitting a very shallow liner into left field for a double. Freshman pitcher Julia Rimshnick, who took over for starter Abby Robinson, then walked outfielder Baran to put runners at first and third. Lauren Ackerman softly grounded a ball to second base, and the dramatic play scored Matz. Ackerman was ultimately called out at second after Gendron dotted a throw to the shortstop, Eckels. The game was tied at 5-5 with one and a half innings left of play. Springfield needed to score here to confidently avoid extra innings. The home team did just that as a single from Pecchia scored Puskas, the Pride’s leadoff hitter. Springfield broke the game open when Katsetos hit a rocket single into center, and her throwing error by the center fielder, Wolk, allowed Springfield to score two runs on the play. Eckels furthered the Pride’s advantage by scoring an unearned run because of a dropped pop-fly from Matz. With Katsetos and Seyfert at second and third, Rachel Powers drove in two more runs — tapping another ball through the middle infield.
Hartford’s comeback attempt in the top of the seventh did scare the Pride a bit, but was ultimately stifled. After two walks with two outs in the inning from Rimschnick, Matz made up for her error by singling past Eckels.The following pinch hitter took a bases loaded walk — putting the game within four runs at 11-7. Baran cut the Pride lead to two with a liner into left field. Lily McCaullife came into the game for Rimschnick, and struckout the final hitter of the game.
Coach Sam Garcia “expects this” from her team. “We’ve been waiting for our bats to get hot,” she said. “I’m really proud of players for sticking to it and not letting times get tough for them.”Coach Garcia leads her team into eight games over spring break in Florida during the team’s annual trip.
Photo Courtesy of Springfield Athletics