Emmitsburg, Maryland (March 18, 2023)–Mount St. Mary’s split a pair of games in its home tournament Saturday at Our Lady of the Meadows Field on campus. The Mount opened the day with a 5-2 win over UAlbany before falling to Lafayette 4-2 in the second game of the day.
PLAN ST. MARY’S 5, UALBANY 2
Abigail Perry hit a home run in the bottom of the fifth inning to spark the Mount to a 5-2 victory over UAlbany in the first game of the day. The Mount trailed 2-1 midway through the game before rallying for the win. Maggie Kane and Tory Bowles each had two hits in the win.
The Great Danes (4-8) took the lead with an unearned run in the top of the first inning. Mount was able to tie the score with a groundout in the bottom of the second. Cassidy Johnson was hit by a one-out pitch and she went all the way around the bases on Bowles’ double to tie the game at 1-1.
After UAlbany’s Morgan Petty singled to right-center field in the top of the fourth to put the German Danes back in front, Mount plated a run in the bottom of the inning to tie the score again. Kaya Bonshock doubled to open the inning, moved to third on a Johnson groundout and she scored on a wild pitch.
Perry put the Mount on top with a solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the fifth. Her shot down the left field line stayed fair to give the Mount a 3-2 lead. Mount St. Mary’s (9-12) pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. The Mount had runners on second and third with one out after a pair of UAlbany errors. Julia Vincent followed by a perfectly placed squeeze bunt for an RBI single to make it 4-2, and Bowles added to the lead with an RBI single.
Avery Neuhart improved to 3-2 on the season with a complete-game effort. The graduate student allowed one earned run in seven innings of work, allowing five hits while compiling three strikeouts. Kane finished the game 2-for-2 while Bowles was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs.
LAFAYETTE 4, MOUNT ST. MARY 2
Lafayette scored four times in the top of the sixth inning and held on for a 4-2 victory over Mount in the second game of the day.
The game began as a pitcher’s duel between the Mounts Maddie Coleman and Lafayette’s Kailee Sawai as there was just one combined hit between the two teams through the first five innings. Lafayette’s Harley Bickett started the game with a hit at the batsman but was later struck out after being caught stealing. From there, Mount’s Coleman led the way, retiring the Leopards to pitch the next four innings without a hit in the top of the sixth.
Megan Coyle led off the sixth with a single up the middle to end Coleman’s no-hitter. After a strikeout, Grace Hausmann moved pinch runner Jasmine Nguyen to second with a sacrifice bunt. Bickett followed by knocking the ball over the fence in left field to plate Nguyen with the game’s first run. The throw to second from the outfield went over the second baseman’s head and all the way into right field, allowing Bickett to come all the way home for a 2-0 advantage. Kylie Sweet was then hit by a pitch that ended Coleman’s day in the circle. Paige Sandage then greeted the aide Olivia Murphy with a two-run homer to make it a 4-0 game.
The Mount finally got to Lafayette starter Sawai in the bottom of the sixth. Sawai allowed one head Abigail Perry in the bottom of the first, but didn’t allow a hit over the next four innings to take a one-out lead into the bottom of the sixth. With two outs and none on base, Perry drew a walk and moved to second on a Maggie Kane base hit. Kaya Bonshock followed by a single to right-center field to plate Perry. The throw home went to the shortstop, but the Leopards were able to recover and get Kane out of the plate to end the inning.
The Mountaineers rallied in the bottom of the seventh but could not complete the turnaround. Bowles doubled to open the frame and pinch the slider Zoe Truckson moved to third place on a Mariah Godet base hit. Vanessa Martin then reached on an error by the Lafayette second baseman to bring Truxon home to make it a 4-2 game. Lafayette relieved Morrigan Gardiner and with two outs, Julia Vincent reached on an infield single to third base that loaded the bases for Perry. Gardiner was able to retire Perry with a fly out to right field to earn the save.
Coleman struck out eight while allowing three runs and four hits in 5.2 innings. Murphy allowed one run in 1.2 innings of relief.
NEXT: The Mount Softball Tournament concludes tomorrow with three more games. The games were pushed back an hour, with UAlbany and Lafayette kicking off the day at 11:00 a.m. The Mount will host UAlbany at 1:00 p.m. and close out the day against Lafayette at 3:00 p.m.