CLERMONT, Fla. – The Washington & Jefferson College softball suffered a pair of defeats Sunday to open play at the annual PFX Spring Games in Clermont, Fla. on Sunday.
The Presidents fell by a 3-2 score in the opener vs SUNY at Old Westbury. Plattsburgh then took a 4-1 victory over W&J in the second game of the day.
Old Westbury 3, W&J 2
The game between Old Westbury and W&J turned into a pitcher's dual.
The first run of the game would come from Old Westbury in the top of the third after an error in the outfield allowed a runner on and to advance to second. The next two batters would single to score the run before W&J escaped without further damage.
W&J was turned away in the bottom of the third despite a leadoff single by
Abby Fullem (Everson, Pa. / Southmoreland).
W&J would shut down Old Westbury in the next frame before tallying a pair of runs in the bottom half to take its first lead. The first two batters,
Hannah Allen (Harrison City, Pa. / Penn Trafford) and
Austine Kinney (Brunswick, Ohio / Brunswick), would single to place runners on first and second. An error by the second baseman paired with some aggressive base running by the Presidents would allow
Deanna Gratton (Monroeville, Pa. / Gateway) to reach first base and Allen to score.
Kyra Blauth (Pittsburgh, Pa. / North Hills) followed with a sacrifice fly to give W&J a 2-1 lead after four innings. Both teams put up zeroes over the next few innings, as the game headed to the seventh inning with W&J leading 2-1.
Jordan Hinz (Ellicott City, Md. / Centennial) would come on in relief for the seventh inning. After a leadoff walk, Hinz was able to retire the next two batters. Down to its final out and final strike, Old Westbury stunned the Presidents with a two-run go-ahead home run to take a 3-2 advantage.
W&J appeared poised to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh inning when
Julia DiPietro-Harvey (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Taylor Allderdice) hit a one-out triple to right field. However, Old Westbury was able to get themselves out of the situation from a grounder to the third baseman on the next play, who faked the throw to first and erase DiPietro-Harvey from the basepaths for the second out.
Kaylee Witner (Freeland, Pa. / MMI Preparatory School) turned in another strong performance in the circle. The sophomore pitched six strong innings, allowing one unearned run over her total six. Witner allowed seven hits and struck out a pair.
Plattsburgh 4, W&J 1
The Cardinals put up three runs on three hits and an error in the first inning to stake claim to an early lead over the Presidents.
Neither team would score again until later in the game. Plattsburgh would tack on another insurance run after two runners got walked and the next batter doubled to give Plattsburgh an insurance run for a 4-0 lead heading to the seventh.
Savannah Keough (Alexandria, Va./T.C. Williams) singled with one out and scored on a RBI single by Gratton in the top of the seventh. W&J was able to bring the potential tying-run to the plate before the final out was recorded.
Other than the first three up three down inning, W&J would have at least one runner left on base in each inning and left multiple runners on in three of those innings.
Sydney Petrowski (Lemont Furnace, Pa./Connellsville) took the loss in a complete game effort for Washington & Jefferson. Petrowski allowed two earned runs over six innings of work.
Keough led the Presidents with two hits in the outing.
Up Next: W&J will play two more games Monday at the Spring Games. The Presidents will take on St. Lawrence next at 9 a.m. followed by a matchup versus Bates at 1:45 p.m.
