Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Softball team opened Skyline Conference play on Saturday afternoon with a pair of wins against Old Westbury, topping the Panthers 6-3 and 15-3. Senior Chelsea Dexter (Beacon, N.Y.) led the offensive attack with six hits and seven RBI over the two victories.
 
Mount Saint Mary rallied from a three run deficit in Saturday's opener with a five run fifth inning. The Mount recorded seven hits in the inning and took advantage of two Old Westbury miscues to pull in front for good. Sophomore Cindy Connoly (Walden, N.Y.) tied the score at 3-3 with a double to right center field and later scored the eventual game winning run on a wild pitch later in the frame. Breanna DePasquale (Brooklyn, N.Y.) added a run scoring double in the inning for the Knights.
 
The Mount tacked on an insurance run in the home half of the sixth frame to close out the scoring in the game. Dexter and Connoly led off the inning with singles, with Dexter scoring the lone run of the inning on a groundout from Taylor Canto (Walden, N.Y.).
 
The Mount had four players finish Saturday's opener with two hits, with Connoly going 2-for-4 with a double, run scored and two RBI. Dexter finished up 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI, while Michelle Surdan (Acton, Mass.) and Sabrina Gordek (Levittown, N.Y.) each collected two hits.
 
Connoly picked up the win in relief of the Knights, moving to 1-0 on the season in her first appearance. She worked the final three frames, allowing one hit and striking out seven. Starter Victoria Goldbach (Middle Village, N.Y.) allowed three runs in 4.0 innings and struck out seven.
 
In game two, Mount Saint Mary pounded out 18 hits and scored at least two runs in each of its four at-bats in the win. The Knights fell behind 1-0 heading into the bottom of the first on an Amanda Fucci home run, but rallied with a pair of runs to move in front 2-1. Gordek doubled in a run to knot the score at 1-1 and later scored on a double steal with Shannon Sommer (Brewster, N.Y.).
 
Mount Saint Mary exploded for seven runs in the second frame, sending 12 hitters to the plate. The Knights totaled six hits in the inning, including RBI doubles from Gordek and Dexter. Canto added a sacrifice fly in the inning that pushed home Dexter with the team's sixth run of the frame.
 
The Mount stayed hot offensively in the third with three more runs and tacked on its final three tallies of the day in the fourth. Dexter connected on a three-run home run in the third and drove in two more runs with a single through the middle in the fourth.
 
Dexter finished off an impressive day at the plate with a 4-for-4 effort at the plate in game two, scoring three runs and driving in six. Amanda Almodovar (Chester, N.Y.) went 3-for-4 at the plate with three runs scored and Connoly finished up 3-for-3 with a run and two RBI. Gordek picked up two more hits for the Knights with Sommer and Kate Zubicki (Kearney, N.J.) each posting two hits and two runs scored.
 
Old Westbury received a pair of home runs from Fucci in game two with Delana Murray driving in a run and Brittany Chernoff scoring a run.
 
Sophomore Colleen Dunn (Bellmore, N.Y.) picked up the complete game win in game two, working 4.0 innings and allowing two earned runs on three hits. She struck out two and walked two in her first outing of the season.
 
With two wins on Saturday, Mount Saint Mary improves to 2-1 overall on the season and to 2-0 in league play. The Knights will be back in action again Sunday afternoon when they welcome St. Joseph's-L.I. to Newburgh. First pitch with the Golden Eagles is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.


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