Softball Drops Skyline Pair at SJC Long Island

PATCHOGUE, N.Y. — The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) softball team (10-11, 5-5) saw their three-game win streak come to an end on Saturday, falling 3-0 and 7-5 to sibling rivals St. Joseph's College (Long Island) (10-8, 6-0) in a Skyline Conference road doubleheader.

The Bears were held to just two hits in the opener in a game that saw the pitchers surrender only six combined hits. The Bears scored five unanswered runs in game two trying to earn a split, but couldn't overcome their early seven-run deficit.

Game 1: SJC Long Island 3, SJC Brooklyn 0

The Golden Eagles scored two early runs after having their first three batters reach safely with a single and a pair of walks to load the bases. Long Island pushed across a run on a grounder and delivered the second run with a two-out hit batter.

Long Island tacked on an unearned insurance run in the third but that was all the run support needed as Brooklyn managed just two hits—a Nicole Quintana (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) single in the second and an Ashleigh Hartwig (Santee, Calif./West Hills) double in the fourth.

Both hurlers went the distance in the circle with Catherine Zucker striking out five and walking none for the win and Victoria Mahoney (Allenwood, N.J./Saint John Vianney) striking out six over six innings, with two of her three runs coming earned in a losing effort.

Game 2: SJC Long Island 7, SJC Brooklyn 5

Long Island knocked four extra-base hits in the first and posted a quad in the first and padded their lead with three more in the third to assemble a 7-0 advantage.

The Bears offense got going in the third with the first five batters all reaching safely. After a Mahoney single loaded the bases, Jessica Vento (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) and Alexis Buchanan (Murrieta, Calif./Murrieta) drew back-to-back walks to put the first runs on the board and Hartwig knocked a single up the middle that scored two more and also knocked the Golden Eagle starter out of the circle. Quintana greeted the reliever with a groundout RBI and the Bears cut their deficit to 7-5.

Madison Erhardt (Baltimore, Md./Dulaney) helped keep the Eagles off the board in their final four frames, and the Bears advanced runners to scoring position in the fifth, sixth, and seventh, but couldn't generate any more runs.

For the Bears

• Ashleigh Hartwig was the lone Bear to hit in both ends of the twinbill, extending her hitting steak to seven games. In addition to picking up the only Bear extra-base hit in the opener, she drove in a pair of runs in game two.
• Jessica Vento and Alexis Buchanan both finished 1-for-3 in game two, driving in a run, scoring once, and walking once.
• Briana Baglino (Howard Beach, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) went 1-for-1 in game two, drawing two walks and scoring a run.

Next Up for the Bears

The Bears return home to host Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham in a non-conference doubleheader starting at noon at Gil Hodges Field. Live stats and video will be available on SJCBears.com