FORT MYERS, Fla. – The College at Brockport softball team split their two games on Sunday afternoon, defeating Salem State 7-1 before dropping a 9-6 contest against Edgewood College. Julia Palopoli picked up her first collegiate win in the opener, pitching a complete game and allowing just one run.
 
With the split, the Golden Eagles move to 3-3 on the season with eight games still to play on their spring road trip.
 
Game 1 vs. Salem State: Win, 7-1
In her first ever start for the Golden Eagles, Palopoli faced some adversity right out of the gate, as three early hits by Salem State allowed a run to score, and had them threatening for more with two on and one out. After a visit to the mound from assistant coach Greg Stahl, the freshman locked in, retiring the next two hitters to escape further trouble.
 
From that point on, Palopoli was nearly unhittable, retiring the next 12 batters she faced and allowing just two hits for the rest of the game. Her final stat line for the day was impressive, as the Hauppauge, N.Y. native went seven innings, giving up one run on five hits while striking out two.
 
It took some time for the offense to get going in this game, but as they've shown early this season, once they get rolling they're hard to stop. After being shut out for the first four innings, they finally broke through in the top of the fifth when Aren Schwab, Alexis Ross, and Meghan Cullen led off the inning with three straight singles, loading the bases with nobody out. Casey Danko was the next batter up, and tied the score with a sacrifice fly to right, before Jessica Koneski gave the Golden Eagles their first lead of the game when she reached on an error, allowing Ross to score from third.
 
The score remained 2-1 until the top of the seventh inning, when the Green and Gold once again loaded the bases with nobody out, this time using singles from Danko, Koneski, and Shelby Perry. Morgan Flamholtz ripped a single through the left side of the infield to score one, before Karleigh Eaton came to the plate with the bases still loaded. After fouling off a few tough pitches, she found one that she liked, and drove it over the left field fence for a grand slam, all but putting the game away. The homer was Eaton's first of the season, and the Golden Eagles second grand slam in as many days.
 
Ross, Danko, and Koneski all ended the game with two hits, while Eaton led the team with four RBI. The Golden Eagles ended the game with 12 hits, marking the fifth time in six games they've recorded double-digit hits.
 
Game 2 vs. Edgewood: Loss, 9-6
The Brockport offense was strong yet again in the second game of the day, but was not able to outlast the bats of Edgewood, who used a five run first inning and hung on the rest of the way for the win.
 
Ross and Koneski each had two hit games again, giving both players four hits for the day. Ross also drove in a pair of runs in the top of the fifth when her single up the middle scored Palopoli and Alison Missavage, bring Brockport to within two at the time.
 
Cullen, Lindsay Wachna, and Missavage all had multi-hit games as well, helping Brockport to their 11 hit total. Amanda Colon pitched 5.1 innings for the Golden Eagles, striking out six batters while allowing just four runs.
 
The Golden Eagles will square off with Wilmington and Kenyon College tomorrow morning for games beginning at 9 and 11 a.m.
 
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