Softball Celebrates Senior Day With Sweep of SJC Long Island

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PATCHOGUE, N.Y. — Sophomore Nicole Trani (Staten Island, N.Y./Moore Catholic) launched home runs in back-to-back at bats in game one and senior Vanessa Quigley (Staten Island, N.Y./New Dorp) knocked four hits and drove in four runs on her senior day as the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) softball team leveled the season series with sibling rivals St. Joseph's College (Long Island) in a doubleheader sweep, 6-4 and 13-5, on Sunday afternoon at the SJC Outdoor Field Complex.

Trani finished with five RBI and six hits on the day. Sierra Bedrin (Rocklin, Calif./Whitney) struck out seven to improve to 4-0 in the circle and drove in a pair to help her cause, belting three doubles in a 3-for-4 effort in the opener.

The Bears (17-6, 12-6) rallied from two early deficits in both games to defeat the Golden Eagles (12-5, 10-4) for the first time since 2012 — snapping a 15-game skid in the series — and collecting their first sweep since 2009.

Game 1: SJC Brooklyn 6, SJC Long Island 4

• Long Island used a two-out rally to score one in the first and added a pair in the second for a 3-0 lead before Trani belted her first homer of the game to center in the bottom of the second; putting the Bears on the board.
• Trani (3-3, 4 RBI, 2 R, 2 HR) led off the fourth with her second dinger of the day, her third of the series, to cut the Bears' deficit to 3-2.
• Despite the early blemishes in the opening two frames, Bedrin (5 IP, 3 ER) settled in and struck out five in the next three scoreless innings, ultimately finishing with a Bears season-high seven K's in five innings of work for the victory.
• With runners on the corners in the home half of the fifth, Trani gave the Bears the lead on a two-out, two-RBI double to left-center field. The advantage grew to 6-3 in the sixth when Bedrin's (3-4, 2 RBI, R, 3 2B) third double of the game drove home a pair of insurance runs.
• The Golden Eagles had the top of the lineup due up in the seventh to face Jessica Mecham (2 IP, 1 ER, 2 H), who came into relief in the sixth, and plated a run on a Lindsay Ness single to bring the tying run to the plate with one out. However, Mecham induced a pair of groundouts to earn her second save of the season and preserve the crucial 6-4 conference win with three league games remaining

Game 2: SJC Brooklyn 13, SJC Long Island 5 (6 innings, non-conference)

• The Golden Eagles took an early lead once again with a pair in the first, with Ness and Kassandra Tibbetts doing the damage.
• But the Bears quickly responded in the home half of the frame tying the game with just three batters, Ashleigh Hartwig (1-1, 3 RBI, 2B, HBP) delivering a two-run double. Brooklyn kept the bats ringing as they batted around without an out and had their first 14 batters reach safely, pushing across 11 runs on 10 hits and remained in control for the remainder of the contest. 
• Casey Bennett (2-4, RBI, 2 R, 2B) and Quigley (3-4, 4 RBI, R) both knocked two hits in the frame and drove in a pair. Trani (3-4, RBI, 2 R) also knocked two hits in in the inning — knocking a hit in her first five at bats of the afternoon.
• After the huge first, the Bears bats cooled off and managed just one hit through the next four innings, while the Golden Eagles tried to chip away and mustered solo runs in the second, fourth, and sixth to cut the deficit to 11-5.
• But the Bears bats woke up again in the sixth, a leadoff walk followed by a Trani double set the stage for Quigley who fittingly ended the day with a two-run single to left to reach the eight-run rule.
• Allison Kaspar (4 IP, 3 ER, 6 H) picked up the win in the circle to improve to 5-3 on the season. 

The Bear Facts

Trani's two home runs in game one tied a Bears single-game record set five times previously, most recently by Hartwig who also accomplished the feat earlier this season at Mount Saint Mary and in 2019 against Sarah Lawrence. Trani now leads the Skyline with five HR on the season, which is one shy of tying the Bears single-season record.

Bedrin's three doubles in game one also tied a single-game record set five times previously and most recently by Hartwig in 2019.

On Deck

With a 1.5-game lead over fifth-place Mount Saint Mary place and currently in playoff position, SJC Brooklyn heads into the final weekend of the regular season facing Manhattanville College with playoff and seeding implications on the line. The Bears face the Valiants for the first time in program history with a road doubleheader on Saturday, May 8. First pitch is scheduled for noon with live stats and video available on SJCBears.com.