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BOXSCORE 2 FREDONIA, N.Y. – Fredonia State rallied for an improbable 5-4 victory in the second game of its SUNYAC softball doubleheader Friday with the Oswego Lakers.
Down to their final out with a runner on first, the Blue Devils scored three runs on the game's final play.
Kim Lotocki (Soph.; Hamburg, N.Y.) dropped a single to short right-center to score
Erin Mushtare (Fr.; Oneonta, N.Y.) from third and pinch-runner
Kristiana Pavone (Jr.; Olean, N.Y.) from second with a head-first slide. The throw trying to retire Pavone bounced away from the Oswego catcher and rolled to the backstop.
Kate Nicholson (Jr.; Heuvelton, N.Y.) never stopped running and slid across with the winning run ahead a flip to the plate.
The comeback – coupled with a 9-4 error-laden loss in Game 1 – left the Blue Devils at 7-12 overall and 4-6 in the SUNYAC. Oswego ended the day at 5-14 overall, 2-10 in the conference.
Both games took were back-and-forth affairs. Game 1 turned in the third inning with one swing of the bat – a three-run homer to dead center by Ashley Lyman. It gave the Lakers a 6-4 lead and they held serve the rest of the way behind the relief pitching of Alexandria Connelly, who pitched five scoreless innings. She allowed just two base runners and struck out five.
Fredonia State's scoring came in two innings. Nicholson dropped a bunt single lead off the first inning, followed by a sacrifice bunt by Lotocki, and an RBI single by
Alyssa Morgan (Soph.; Homer, N.Y.). In the third, three Oswego errors were sandwiched around singles by
Erin Mushtare (Fr.; Oneonta, N.Y.) and
Maddy Stavish (Fr.; Olean, N.Y.), leading to three Blue Devil runs.
The loss was pinned on
Alyssa Brognano (Sr.; New Paltz, N.Y.), who gave up seven runs – only two of them earned – in four-plus innings.
Kelsey Gannett (Jr.; Endwell, N.Y.) pitched the final three innings, and returned to the circle for the second game, as did Oswego's Connelly. The two were teammates at Union-Endicott High School.
The teams traded the lead five times in Game 2. The Lakers broke on top in the top of the second on a triple by Sammie Schroeter and a single by Dana Taglioni. The Blue Devils pulled even at 1-1 on a double by
Madeline Medina (Soph.; Hamburg, N.Y.) and a two-out single by Nicholson.
A Blue Devil error and a two-out single by Katie Bredin put Oswego on top 2-1 in the fourth. In the last half the inning, Lotocki singled and scored on a two-out double by
Jess Lauck (Jr.; Buffalo, N.Y.)
Oswego appeared to strike the decisive blow in the top of the seventh. Following a two-out double by Deanna Apps, Alexis Nasca smashed a homer to left to put the Lakers on top 4-2.
In the last of the seventh, Nasca returned to the circle for her third inning in relief of Connelly. She gave up a lead-off single to Mushtare before retiring the next two batters. Stavish then drew a four-pitch walk ahead of a bunt by Nicholson, who was credited with a single after Oswego was unable to retire a lead runner. That set the stage for Lotocki, who delivered with her two-run hit, and Nicholson, who hustled all the way around from first. Gannett pitched a complete game to get the win and improve to 6-5. Nasca was the losing pitcher.
The Blue Devils are back at home Saturday for a noon doubleheader against conference-leader Cortland. The teams will wear commemorative shirts as part of Strikeout Cancer Day. Brognano will be recognized as Fredonia State's lone senior prior to the doubleheader.
