Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Buffalo, NY – The D'Youville softball team took their second consecutive AMCC regular season title on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Mount Aloysius Mounties in game one 2-1 and falling in game two 8-7.
Mount Aloysius threatened early in the game with two base runners in the first inning and loading the bases in the second, but the Spartans got out of trouble with no runs scored. However, the Mounties finally broke through in the third to break the scoreless tie with a bases loaded fielder's choice, driving in the runner from third to give the Mounties a 1-0 lead.
Senior Lydia Monin (Buffalo, NY/Tapestry Charter School) reached on a fielder's choice in the bottom of the third. Next up, freshman Darian Evans (Brant, NY/Lake Shore) smacked a double to left center, driving in Monin and tying the game at 1-1.
The two teams would combine for one hit until the bottom of the sixth inning when Monin would strike again. Leading off the inning, Monin recorded the 100th hit of her career by hitting her second career home run and second this season to left field and gave the Spartans a 2-1 lead.
The Mounties would load the bases once again with two outs in the top of the seventh, but the Spartans would get out of the inning and win the game by the final of 2-1.
Monin led the team with two hits and two runs. She had one RBI on her homer, along with Evans' RBI. Those two, along with Lauren DeVantier (Niagara Falls, NY/Niagara-Wheatfield) and Lauren Gawlak (Hamburg, NY/Frontier) each had a hit. Kalie McHenry (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home) pitched a complete game over seven innings, allowing one earned run and striking out five.
In game two, Mount Aloysius took a big lead in the top of the second inning, taking advantage of several D'Youville errors and scoring eight runs.
D'Youville would answer in the bottom of the inning with some timely hitting. McHenry led off the inning with a walk, followed by walks to Victoria Purucker (North Tonawanda, NY/Starpoint) and MacKenzie Kehlenbeck (Alabama, NY/Oakfield-Alabama) to load the bases with no outs. Still with no outs, Ashley Colan (Grand Island, NY/Grand Island) was hit by a pitch to drive in McHenry.
Gawlak would then come to bat and single to the third baseman to make the game 2-0 with the bases still loaded and no outs. Monin and Evans would then ground out in each of the next two at-bats but would drive in two more runs and the Spartans would get out of the inning cutting their deficit in half at 8-4.
In the bottom of the fourth, Kehlenbeck would lead off the inning with a homer to bring the game to 8-5. The Spartans would reach the bottom of the seventh still down by two, but refused to go without a fight.
Monin began the inning with a walk. Evans would then single, moving Monin to third and she would then score on the next play with DeVantier driving her in on a sac-fly. Sierra Belkota (North Tonawanda, NY/Starpoint) pinch ran for Evans at second and the speedy freshman scored on a Hannah Turek (Depew, NY/Lancaster) double to left center, bringing the score to 8-7. However, the last two batters of the inning would fly out and the Mounties would hold on to win 8-7.
All seven runs were driven in by different Spartans in game two. McHenry pitched seven innings but didn't allow an earned run. Six different players all recorded hits in the game.
The Spartans won their second consecutive AMCC regular season title with their split against the Mounties. Penn State-Altoona and Penn State-Behrend both finished with 15-3 records in the AMCC, along with the Spartans, but D'Youville held tiebreakers over the two teams. The AMCC tournament will be hosted by D'Youville and begin on Friday, May 6th.
