NEW PALTZ, NY- The New Paltz softball team earned a split this afternoon versus the Valiants of Manhattanville at Mary Gray Dean Field. The Hawks shutout the Valiants in game one, 7-0 and lost a heartbreaker 3-2 in the nightcap. The Hawks will return to the diamond on Friday, April 16th when they travel to Plattsburgh. First pitch is set for 3:00 pm.
In game one, the Hawks drew first blood in the bottom of the third inning when they put up five runs. Erin Fitzpatrick walked to lead off the inning and Victoria Holm then singled advancing Fitzpatrick to third. Victoria Kyle walked and Melyssa Cilmi hit an RBI single and teammate Rose Dovi quickly followed as she added an RBI single of her own. Samantha Barra came up clutch hitting a two run double and Melissa Liotta followed suit as she hit an RBI single to put the Hawks up by five.
In the bottom of the sixth, junior Jillian Gallagher provided some excitement as she hit an inside the park homerun which scored Elizabeth Tong. Those would be the last two runs the Hawks would put up in the contest.
Dovi finished 2-for-3 with one run and one RBI and Liotta was also 2-for-3 with one RBI. Gallagher and Barra both plated two runs each providing the run support.
Alyssa Oliva earned her fifth victory on the mound as she allowed no runs on three hits and struck out six. Gillian Davidoff provided two shutout innings of relief on no hits and one strikeout.
Samantha Howe suffered the loss for the Valiants pitching four innings allowing five runs on six hits.
Ashley Dell, Alyssa Taylor, and Lindsay Zekus all collected one hit for the Valiants.
In the nightcap, Jillian Gallagher lead off the bottom of the first with a triple, Melissa Liotta executed the suicide squeeze which scored Gallagher to put the Hawks on the board to provide a 1-0 lead.
Manhattanville started the inning with two singles from Ashley Dell and Alyssa Taylor. The Valiants ended up scoring two runs after two wild pitches.
The Hawks answered back by scoring one in the bottom half of the fourth to tie the ball game. Erin Fitzpatrick led off the inning with a single and then advanced to second off a sacrifice bunt from Dale Cornelius. Jenna Curcio singled which advanced Fitzpatrick to third and then Liotta singled in Fitzpatrick.
The Valiants were able to score one more run in the top of the fifth. Brianna Scapperotti tripled and teammate Jessica Van Galen hit an RBI groundout to score Scapperotti.
The Hawks were unable to score in the last three innings making the final score 3-2.
Gallagher provided the offense for the Hawks going 3-for-4 with one run scored. Liotta was 2-for-4 with two RBI and Samantha Barra went 2-for-3 in the nightcap.
Gallagher suffered the loss on the mound, as she allowed one run on two hits while striking out two.
Alyssa Taylor earned the victory pitching for the Valiants as she threw a complete game on ten hits, allowing two runs with two strikeouts.
