No. 4 Softball upends No.1 Dowling in ECC Tournament

Old Westbury, N.Y. - NYIT sisters Brilynn Fields (Aurora, Col) and Brooklyn Fields (Aurora, Col.) hit back-to-back homeruns in the sixth inning as the No. 4 NYIT softball team rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat top seeded Dowling College, 4-2, this afternoon in the 2009 East Coast Conference softball tournament. The Bears advance to face No.3 C.W. Post at 11 a.m. on Saturday. The Pioneers defeated No. 2 Adelphi 2-0 in the first game of the tournament this morning. 

In the first inning, Dowling jumped out to a 1-0 lead as Lisa Compitello led off with a triple and scored on a passed ball. The Golden Lions took a 2-0 lead in the fourth as Emily Slack sent a solo homerun sailing over the right field fence. Meanwhile, Dowling starter Stephanie Plochochi cruised through the Bears lineup until the sixth inning, when NYIT's offense finally came alive and the Bears batted around the order. Brilynn Fields led off the sixth inning with a solo homerun to right center field and Brooklyn Fields  proceeded to go-back-to-back with her sister, hitting a mammoth shot into left center to tie the score at 2-2. Senior Lauren Sabia (Tucson, Arz.) reached with a single to left field and senior Ashley Gosk (Bay Shore, N.Y.) drove her in with a triple center to give the Bears a 3-2 lead. The Bears tacked on a fourth run before the inning ended, with Gosk coming home on sophomore Marissa Brucculeri's (Albertson, N.Y.) RBI groundout.

NYIT starter, senior Nina Cesare (Whitestone, N.Y.), allowed a two out single in the sixth, but retired the side. In the seventh, Cesare got into trouble allowing a one-out walk to Jackie Hannan. Kristen DeMeo followed with a single to right field, but Krystal Hoffman, who pinch ran for Hannan, was gunned down by NYIT junior Anna Hernandez (Tucson, Arz.) as she tried to reach third for the second out. Cesare seemed to be getting out of the inning as she got Slack to pop out to first base, but the ball popped out of Brucculeri's glove to keep Dowling's inning alive. Kerry Boystack followed with an RBI single, scoring DeMeo to bring the Golden Lions to within one (4-3), but Cesare induced the next batter, Diana Tortorici to pop out to Gosk to end the game.

Cesare improved to 17-8 on the season with the win, allowing three runs, but just one earned.  She scattered eight hits and five walks while striking out five in seven innings. Plochochi took the loss for the Golden Lions, allowing four earned runs on nine hits with six strikeouts in five innings of work.

Brilynn Fields finished the game 3-4 with an RBI and run scored and Sabia and Gosk each had two hits in the victory.

-Provided by NYIT Sports Information department.