Clermont, FL – The SUNY Brockport softball began the new season on Saturday with a pair of contests down south at The Spring Games in Florida. Brockport went 0-2 on opening day, losing to UW – River Falls and Susquehanna.
Game 1: Brockport 7, UW – River Falls 8
The first at-bat of the season for the Golden Eagles resulted in one run scored, as they took a quick 1-0 lead in the contest. After drawing a walk and stealing second base,
Kellie Gentile made her way back to home plate.
Tori Angelo drew the walk with the bases loaded, getting the RBI for Gentile's run.
In the second inning, the squad added another run to the tally to go up 2-0.
Natalie Faas was brought home thanks to an RBI single from
Aubrey Ennis. River Falls was held scoreless through the first two innings.
The Golden Eagles produced five runs in the third inning on five hits. The big inning was highlighted by a base-clearing double from
Emma DeJesus. Her double to center field sent
Natalie Faas,
Reagan Myers, and
Olivia Simone home to score. Myers and Ennis both registered RBIs with base hits in the third to contribute to the rally.
In the bottom of the third, River Falls finally got some runs on the board and began to change the tide of the game. An RBI single and a pair of walks with the bases loaded cut the Brockport lead to 7-3 going into the top of four.
While River Falls chipped away at the lead, Brockport was unable to answer offensively to hold off the comeback. Entering the bottom of the seventh down, 7-6, UW-RF tied the game and hit a walk-off RBI single to steal the win, 8-7.
Kellie Gentile (2-4),
Emma DeJesus (2-4, 3 RBIs),
Aubrey Ennis (2-3, 2 RBIs), and
Paige Wentland (2-4) all connected for multiple hits in game one of the new season.
Kendall Phillips (L, 0-1) made the first start of her collegiate career, going 2.2 innings in total for the game. She finished with six strikeouts, eight walks, and four earned runs on three hits.
Hadley Alguire also made her debut in the circle, pitching well in 3.1 innings as the reliever. She struck out two batters and only allowed two earned runs on five hits.
Game 2: Brockport 3, Susquehanna 6
After both teams went scoreless in the first, Susquehanna got on the board with a single swing of the bat in the second. A solo homer from Katelyn Dugery helped make it a 2-0 lead for the River Hawks.
In the bottom of the second the Golden Eagles would respond to tie the game up at 2-2. With runners in scoring position,
Jackie DuTot put the ball in play to bring home
Paige Wentland. The next at-bat saw
Kellie Gentile connect for an infield single, which allowed
Natalie Faas to slide in safely at the plate.
Susquehanna broke the tie in the top of the third, adding two more runs onto the board. The River Hawks would score two runs once again in the sixth inning to create some cushion. They held a 6-2 advantage as the seventh inning approached.
Looking to start a late rally, Gentile got on base with a walk.
Emma DeJesus hit a 1-out single, and advanced to second on the throw, which pushed Gentile over to third base.
Aubrey Ennis would bring Gentile in to score on a sacrifice fly to center field for the RBI. However, the rally would come up short making the final score 6-3 in favor of Susquehanna.
Kellie Gentile got on base in all four plate appearances, going 2-for-2 with an RBI and drawing two walks.
Grace Talbut also reached base on more than one occasion, going 1-for-3 at the dish with one walk.
Fiona Gibiser (L, 0-1) started at pitcher in this one, going 2.1 innings with two strikeouts. She allowed three earned runs on four hits, while also walking four batters.
Hadley Alguire was solid as the middle reliver once again, pitching 3.2 innings for the Green and Gold. She allowed two earned runs on four hits in game two of the day.
Aurora Sabins closed out the game to make her debut for Brockport. She struck out two in just one inning of action, allowing no hits, no runs, and walking two batters.
The Golden Eagles are back in action down in Florida on Sunday with two more games set for day two of action. They take on Keuka College at 9am and then will face The College at Old Westbury at 11:30am.
