No. 4 Softball advances to ECC Tournament Championship with Split
Old Westbury, N.Y. (May 2, 2009) - Junior Anna Hernandez's (Tucson, Arz.) walk-off RBI triple in the bottom of the seventh inning propelled the NYIT softball team into the 2009 East Coast Conference tournament championship as the Bears defeated No. 1 Dowling 3-2. NYIT advances to face No. 3 C.W. Post in the championship game on Sunday. First pitch is set for Noon. C.W. Post and NYIT met earlier today, with the Pioneers earning a 9-1 win in that game to advance to the championship game.
Dowling's Jackie Hannan gave the Golden Lions a 1-0 lead in the second inning with a solo homerun over the right field fence off of NYIT starter Nina Cesare (Whitestone, N.Y.). Cesare also allowed an RBI single to Krystil Hoffman that gave Dowling a 2-0 lead, but she settled down after that and did not allow another run.
The Bears came back and tied the game with two runs of their own in the third as Dowling helped NYIT's efforts with two errors. Sophomore Marissa Brucculeri (Albertson, N.Y.) scored junior Rebecca Stein (Bay Shore, N.Y.) on a groundball that was mishandled by the shortstop and senior Lia Lara's (Tucson, Arz.) RBI single scored sophomore Justine Clifford (Whitestone, N.Y.) to tie the game at 2-2. Stein and Clifford led off the inning with back-to-singles.
The Bears loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fifth, but Dowling starter Jamie Stalter got out of the jam unscathed, striking out Lara and inducing senior Brilynn Fields (Auora, Col.) into an inning ending double play. Dowling put runners on second and third with one out in the sixth, but Cesare retired the next two batters, to end the threat.
Cesare allowed just one hit in the seventh, a one out single before retiring the side and setting up the stage for the dramatic finish.
Brucculeri started the rally in the bottom of the seventh with a one out single. Hernandez punched the ball down the left field line and it skipped past the Golden Lions left fielder Krystil Hofman, who attempted to cut the ball off. The ball rolled all the way to the wall, allowing Brucculeri to score from first and give the Bears the win.
Cesare improved to 18-10 on the season with the victory.
In the first game against C.W. Post, the Pioneers grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Cesare, who was the starter, allowed a hit and a walk to open up the inning. After a groundout advanced the runners to second and third, Christie Softy delivered a two RBI single to left field to give Post a 2-0 lead.
Cesare ran into more trouble in the fourth, walking the leadoff batter, hitting the next batter and loading the bases as she mishandled a bunt for an error. Cesare then issued a bases loaded walk to Melissa Medina to make it 3-0. Ashley Marchese and Kerry Fisher followed with RBI singles pushing the lead up to 5-0 and freshman Michelle Rapp (Hammonton, N.J.), who relieved Cesare, allowed consecutive sacrifice fly's to Softy and Shannon Kulnis that made the score 7-0.
The Bears finally got on the scoreboard in the top of the fifth as junior Anna Hernandez (Tucson, Az.) led off with an infield single and advanced to second as Megan Correia's throw to first base sailed wide and allowed Hernandez to advance to second. Hernandez advanced to third on senior Lia Lara's (Tucson, Arz.) groundout and when Marchese attempted to get Hernandez advancing to third, her throw skipped into left field, allowing Hernandez to score.
Softy drove in her fourth run of the game with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth, giving the Pioneers an 8-1 lead and when she scored on Kulni's groundball that was mishandled by NYIT's shortstop, she pushed Post's lead to 9-1 and enforced the mercy rule.
The win was Cesare's 17th of the season.
-Provided by NYIT Sports Information department.
