Farmingdale, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Softball team suffered its first loss in the Skyline Conference Championship since the 2015 season on Friday with a 7-2 defeat at the hands of second seeded St. Joseph's-L.I. The Knights will look to keep the 2019 season going later on Friday evening when it tussles with the College of Mount Saint Vincent in an elimination game.
St. Joseph's jumped out front by three runs in the home half of the first inning and never let the Mount even in the contest. The Golden Eagles took advantage of two hits, two walks and an error in the inning to pull in front for good in the contest. Lindsay Ness drove in the game's first run with an infield single with the last two runs of the frame coming home on a two-out throwing error.
Mount Saint Mary climbed back to within a run in the top of the second inning, with its only scoring of the contest. With one out and no one on base the Knights loaded the bases with a walk to
Bridget Bennett (Gardiner, N.Y.), a single from
Alyssa Hernandez (Middletown, N.Y.) and a free pass to
Erin McCann (East Haven, Conn.).
Jillian Picarillo (Troy, N.Y.) brought the Mount to within 3-1 with a bases loaded walk and
Nicolette Moustouka (Seaford, N.Y.) brought home Hernandez with the Mount's fourth walk of the inning. The Knights recorded just one hit in the frame and left the bases loaded trailing by a run.
St. Joseph's maintained the one run lead until the fourth when it added a run and extended its lead with two runs in the fifth and another tally in the sixth. Lindsay Smocer drove in the fourth inning run with a two-out single, with Jenna Kreiling and Jillian McFadzen driving in runs in the fifth. Kassandra Tibbetts closed out the scoring in the sixth with a solo home run to push the lead to the final five-run advantage.
Mount Saint Mary was held to only three singles in the contest with Hernandez,
Amanda Almodovar (Goshen, N.Y.) and
MacKenzie Hymes (Middletown, Del.) recording the hits. Moustouka walked twice and drove in a run with Picarillo drawing a walk and driving in a run.
Tibbetts finished the game 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs and an RBI for the Golden Eagles with Jenna DeFina, Smocer and Kreiling all posting a hit and a run scored for St. Joseph's.
Bennett suffered the loss in the circle for the Knights and fell to 6-7 on the season. She worked 4.2 innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits. She struck out four and walked three in the loss. Katelynn Valente picked up the win in relief for the Golden Eagles, working 5.1 shutout innings, allowing one hit and fanning four.
At 14-21-1 overall, Mount Saint Mary will square-off with the College of Mount Saint Vincent in an elimination contest. The Dolphins dropped a tough 2-0 decision to top seed Farmingdale State on Friday afternoon.
