Newburgh, N.Y. – Playing in its final home games of the 2016 regular season, the Mount Saint Mary College Softball team split a non-conference doubleheader with local rival Purchase on Wednesday. Junior Breanna DePasquale (Brooklyn, N.Y.) drove in five runs in a 9-0 game one win and senior Sabrina Gordek (Levittown, N.Y.) recorded three hits in a 4-1 game two loss.
 
The Knights scored the eventual game winning run in the opener in the first inning with an unearned tally and gained some breathing room with a three run third frame. Cindy Connoly (Walden, N.Y.) delivered Amanda Almodovar (Chester, N.Y.) in the third inning with a run scoring single before DePasquale drove home Connoly and Courtney Barbara (Fishkill, N.Y.) with a double.
 
DePasquale struck again in a five run fifth inning when she belted her second home run of the season, a three-run shot, that drove in Barbara and Connoly again. Junior Michelle Surdan (Acton, Mass.) ended the game in the fifth with a two-run double to close out the scoring in the game.
 
The Knights had four players with multiple hits in the opener, with Shannon Sommer (Brewster, N.Y.) and Almodovar each collecting three safeties and scoring two runs. Connoly finished 2-for-3 with two runs with DePasquale rounding out game one 2-for-3 with a run and five RBI. Surdan drove in a pair of runs and recorded one of five Mount Saint Mary extra base hits in the game.
 
Connoly notched her eighth win of the season in game one and moved to 8-2 with her seventh complete game of the season. She struck out 10 batters for the third time this season in her second shutout of the campaign.
 
In game two, the Knights fell behind 1-0 in the top of the first on an unearned run and saw New Paltz take a 2-0 advantage on a Fallon Spriggs run scoring single in the third. The Mount got a run back in the fourth when Chelsea Dexter (Beacon, N.Y.) scored on a Barbara single, but could not pull even with the Hawks.
 
New Paltz would put the game away with two more tallies in the fifth when Spriggs and Julia Perhacs scored on a miscue on a double steal.
 
Gordek finished game two with half of the Knights' six hits with Dexter scoring the team's lone run. Barbara drove in her eighth run of the season in game two.
 
Senior Victoria Goldbach (Middle Village, N.Y.) suffered the loss in game two, allowing just one earned run on eight hits. She struck out three and walked two in falling to 5-5 on the season.
 
Wednesday's split moves Mount Saint Mary to 17-10 overall on the season. The Knights will close out the regular season on Saturday when they travel to conference rival Farmingdale State. First pitch with the Rams is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.

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