Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 at Kissimmee, Fla.
Oswego State 8, Eastern Conn. 7 (8 inn.)
Eastern (1-6) tied the game with three runs in the bottom of the seventh but Oswego (4-3) pushed across the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth on an RBI single by starting pitcher Angela Frampton.
Eastern sophomore Haleigh Cardello (Litchfield, NH) allowed only one earned run in six innings of relief and stood to win her first career game after Eastern scored three runs on five hits in the seventh to tie the game, 7-7, and had the winning run on second base with one out before winning pitcher Rebecca Vilchez got an infield pop and ground ball to send the game into the tie-breaking eighth.
Sophomore catcher Megan Hodgdon (Cheshire) had three of Eastern's 12 hits, scored twice and drove in a run with a single in the seventh. Batting ninth, senior leftfielder Jessica Seymour (Barkhamsted) homered on a 3-2 pitch – the first of her three-year career – to drive in two runs in the second and cut Oswego's early lead to 5-3.
Sophomore shortstop Sara Pisanelli (Wallingford) reached three times with two hits and a walk and scored the first run of the seventh after she opened the inning with a double. Hodgdon (three hits, two runs) plated the second run of the seventh and No. 8 hitter Christine Guyette (Mansfield), a freshman first baseman, tied the game with an RBI single to left.
Eastern Conn. 7, Ramapo College 5
Against No. 15-ranked Ramapo College (7-3), the Warriors (2-6) rallied for four runs in the sixth after there were two out to overcome an early 4-1 deficit and present head coach Diana Pepin (400-249-2) with her 400th head coaching victory (all at Eastern) in her 17th season. The victory snapped Eastern's five-game losing streak (three of the losses by one run) and Ramapo's three-game winning streak. The Roadrunners were coming off a 9-3 victory over No. 19 Ithaca College earlier in the day.
At right: Third baseman Crysta Wolski smothers this drive off the bat of Oswego's Taylor Dubois in the fifth inning of Eastern's 8-7 loss to the Lakers in Thursday's first game. In eight games, Wolski has four putouts and 12 assists at third.
Down 4-1, Eastern got two back in the fifth on Seymour's infield single and sophomore second baseman Jackie Lewis' (Mystic) two-run home run – the first of her career – on the first pitch from Katrina Buczkowski. After leaving the bases loaded in the inning, Eastern rallied again in the sixth, batting around and scoring four times on five hits and two walks to move ahead, 7-4.
With two out and one runner on in the sixth, Eastern strung together five straight hits, with Lewis plating the first run with a single, Pisanelli the second run with a bloop double that landed on the third base line, Cardello sent in the third run with an infield single in front of home plate and Hodgdon the final run with a double to left.
Pisanelli's first home run of the season gave Eastern a 1-0 lead in the first but the Roadrunners tied the game with a one-out triple and ground ball in the bottom of the first, added an unearned run in the third and tacked on two more in the fourth on three straight one-out singles and an infield ground ball to open up a 4-1 lead.
Sophomore lefty Morgan Sanson (Thomaston) worked into the sixth inning for her first win in her first decision, departing after surrendering No. 9 hitter Sisi Machinski's leadoff home run that cut Eastern's lead to 7-5. Cardello closed out the win for her first career save, stranding a runner in each inning.
Lewis and Pisanelli – batting 2-3 in the order – each had three runs and each scored twice. Lewis drove in three runs and Pisanelli two.
Pepin entered the season ranked tenth in wins among active New England Division III coaches.
Eastern closes out in Kissimmee Friday against Washington College at 11:15 a.m. and Haverford College at 1:30 p.m.
