Softball Stunned by Mount Saint Vincent Sixth-Inning Rally in Skyline Championship First Round

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) softball team built a 3-0 lead on the College of Mount Saint Vincent, but the No. 4 Dolphins scored seven runs in the sixth inning to hand the No. 5 Bears a heartbreaking 8-3 defeat in the first round of the 2019 Skyline Conference Softball Championship on Wednesday evening at the Farmingdale State College Athletic Complex.

St. Joseph's ends their second-straight season in the Skyline first round at 16-20 overall after assembling their best league finish in fifth place. The Dolphins advance to the double-elimination stage of the championship and draw top-seeded Farmingdale State on Friday.

How it Happened

Victoria Mahoney (Allenwood, N.J./Saint John Vianney) led off the game with an infield single and later came home on a passed ball to give the Bears an early 1-0 lead. Mahoney helped push the SJC advantage to 2-0 in the second, singling in fellow senior Nicole Quintana (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) who drew a four-pitch leadoff walk and was sacrificed to scoring position.

SJC posted another solo run in the fourth after Brianna Baglino (Howard Beach, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) led off with a double and Vanessa Quigley (Staten Island, N.Y./New Dorp) delivered her two batters later with a double of her own.

Mahoney held the Dolphins to one hit through three innings, but CMSV scored an unearned run in the bottom of the fourth to match the Bears in the top half. The Dolphins threatened in the fifth gaining runners at the corners with one out, but Mahoney worked out of the jam preserving a 3-1 lead, still holding the Dolphins to four hits.

Still up 3-1 in the sixth, Mahoney retired the first two batters on four pitches before the Dolphins started their stunning comeback belting back-to-back triples that cut the Bears lead to one and knocked Mahoney out of the circle. A wild pitch knotted the game at 3-all and the Dolphins loaded the bases on walks prompting Mahoney's return to the circle. The senior managed two grounders but the defense faltered and five more runs came across, all unearned, to extend their lead to 8-3, and SJC couldn't come up with a response in the seventh.

For the Bears

• Victoria Mahoney finished 2-for-4 at the plate scoring once and driving in a run. In the circle, she allowed five runs (two earned) on seven hits, striking out three in a no-decision. The senior ends her three-year career for the Bears first all-time in saves (2), fourth in strikeouts (271), tied for fourth in innings pitched (303.2), and fifth in victories (24).
• Jessica Vento (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) went 2-for-2 with a walk.
• Brianna Baglino (1-for-3, R) and Vanessa Quigley (1-for-2, RBI) both knocked the Bears extra-base hits with doubles.