Softball Picks Up First Win Against Saint Joseph

ORLANDO – The Mitchell College softball team earned its first victory of the 2010 season on Saturday afternoon, bouncing back from a 16-10 loss in the first game of a doubleheader with Saint Joseph College (Conn.) to rally for a 3-2 win in the nightcap.

With the second game tied at 2-2, Mitchell (1-3 overall) scratched across the go-ahead run in its half of the seventh inning and then held off a late charge from the Blue Jays (1-1 overall). Junior Jen Bordonaro crossed the plate with the winning run for the Mariners on a Saint Joseph fielding error.

While the day’s first game was highlighted by offense, the second game featured a pitcher’s duel between sophomore Marissa Thomas and Saint Joseph’s Kristin Parente. Neither allowed an earned run in seven innings of work. Thomas allowed two runs on five hits while striking out three and walking none to earn her first win of the season. Parente gave up three runs on only three hits and struck out four while walking two.

The Blue Jays broke a scoreless tie with two runs in the fourth, but the Mariners scored twice in the fifth as a result of a throwing error with two outs in the frame. The story repeated itself in the seventh, when Bordonaro kept Mitchell’s hopes alive with a two-out bunt single to get on base. She followed by stealing second and advancing to third on a passed ball, and eventually came around to score on Saint Joseph’s third error of the game.

A two-out double by the Blue Jays in the bottom of the seventh put the tying run in scoring position, but Thomas got the next batter to fly out to center to end the game. The win was also the first for head coach Bernadette Macca, who is in her first season with the Mariners.

In the day’s first game, Saint Joseph pounded out 15 hits and benefitted from six Mitchell errors to take the win. Eight players finished with a hit, run scored and RBI for the Blue Jays, who were playing their first game of the season.

Three errors helped Saint Joseph out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, but the Blue Jays let the Mariners right back in the game in the bottom of the frame. Starting pitcher Sara Dudley had trouble finding the plate and issued six walks and a hit before being pulled from the game. Mitchell scored seven runs but promptly gave up the lead in the second, allowing five runs on four hits and an error.

Saint Joseph never trailed again, extending the lead to 14-8 with two runs in the third and three more in the fourth. The Mariners got two runs back in the sixth on a double by senior Sara Krolikowski, but the Blue Jays shut down the rally and added two runs in the seventh to seal the victory.

Sophomores Stacey Suplicki and Nikki Hoxie each had solid games. Suplicki went 3-for-4 with three runs scored while Hoxie was 2-for-4 and scored twice. Krolikowski finished with three RBI in the game.

Mitchell wraps up its spring trip with a doubleheader against the University of New England on Sunday, March 14 at 9 a.m.