CLERMONT, Fla. – The Allegheny softball team continued to play at the Spring Games in Florida Wednesday (March 23).
Allegheny fell in a close 5-3 battle to MIT in game one before bouncing back with a 9-8 comeback victory against Benedictine in game two.
GAME ONE – MIT 5, Allegheny 3
The Engineers got on the board first with a solo homerun in the third.
The Gators responded in the bottom of the fourth.
Joplin Osgood (Coudersport, Pa./Coudersport) and
Sofia Genareo (Lakewood, N.Y./Southwestern Central) hit back-to-back singles. Osgood then came across the plate in a steal situation, beating the tag to tie it at one.
Maley Gleason (Houston, Texas/Westside), pinch running for Genareo, gave the Gators the lead on an
Espy Zuniga (Boerne, Texas/Samuel V Champion) RBI.
MIT regained the lead in the fifth, scoring four runs to take a 5-2 lead.
Allegheny made up some ground in the bottom of the frame.
Hadley Horensky (Jefferson Hills, Pa./Seton LaSalle Catholic) hit a one-out single to right center.
Cameron Long (Midlothian, Va./Midlothian) moved Horensky to third on a single before Osgood brought her home on a sacrifice fly. However, the Gators were unable to produce any more runs as they fell in their first contest of the day.
Genareo led the Gators with a pair of hits.
Aleya Belardinelli (Melbourne, Fla./West Shore), Horensky, Long, Osgood and
Isabelle Wakefield (Sicklerville, N.J./Timber Creek) also recorded a hit. Osgood and Zuniga supplied the pair of RBI.
Belardinelli struck out four batters.
GAME TWO – Allegheny 9, Benedictine 8
The Eagles scored a run each in each of the first two innings.
Samantha Dzierba (Colden, N.Y./Orchard Park) led off the third with a single, and eventually made it across home plate when Belardinelli hit into an error.
Benedictine added four runs in the third to extend the lead to 6-1.
After a scoreless fourth, Dzierba and Zuniga led off the fifth with back-to-back singles. Belardinelli loaded the bases with a one-out, infield single, setting up the scene for
Paige Ziggas (Beaver, Pa./Beaver Area), who blasted her first career homerun, a grand slam nonetheless, over the left center fence, to bring the Gators within one.
After the Eagles scored two in the bottom of the fifth, the Gators fought back in the sixth.
Jordan Williams (San Diego, Calif./Academy of Our Lady of Peace) singled to deep left center. Dzierba earned a walk and both moved up on a wild pitch. Zuniga then reached on an error, scoring Williams. Belardinelli followed up with a RBI single up the middle, cutting the lead to 8-7. After Ziggas hit an infield single to load the bases, Horensky followed up with a single to shallow left, which scored two more runs and gave the Gators a 9-8 lead.
The Gators held the Eagles off the bases for the final six outs as the Gators secured the comeback win.
Williams earned the win in relief, going 4.0 innings allowing one hit while striking out four.
Ziggas led the Gators with four RBI on a pair of hits. Belardinelli tallied three hits while bringing one run across the plate. Osgood and Dzierba also had a pair of hits. Horensky drove in two runners while Williams and Zuniga had a hit and an RBI each.
The Gators return to action Thursday, March 24, to face Hope and Middlebury.
