MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – The SUNYIT Softball Team (1-1, 0-0 NEAC) earned a split on their first day of competition in Myrtle Beach, S.C. on Monday, winning their morning game 5-3 over Daniel Webster before falling to Waldorf 10-2.
GAME ONE – SUNYIT 5, Daniel Webster 3
The first game of the season for the Wildcats was a gutsy win. After Daniel Webster scored 2 runs right out of the gate in the bottom of the 1st, the Wildcats responded with single runs in the second and third innings to tie the score 2-2.
Finally, in the top of the 5th, sophomore Krista Pristera (New Hartford, NY / New Hartford) came through with an RBI single to break the tie. Soon after, first-year Erika Charbonneau (Boonville, N.Y. / Adirondack) singled home Pristera, giving the Wildcats a 4-2 lead.
Pristera had a monster game for the Wildcats, going 3-for4 with 4 RBI's.
Senior Erica Hovey (Dexter, NY / Jefferson CC) went the distance on the mound for SUNYIT, scattering 6 hits over 7 innings while allowing only 3 earned runs and striking out 3.
GAME TWO – Waldorf 10, SUNYIT 2
Game two of the Wildcats first day proved famine to the morning feast, as the Warriors of Waldorf College jumped all over the Wildcats. While the Wildcats put one run up in the top of the 1st, the Warriors responded with 2 in the bottom half and then followed it up with 3 in the second inning to take a 5-1 lead. They would tack on another five runs in the fourth and fifth innings to take a 10-2 victory in five innings.
Of small recompense to the Wildcats was the play of Lyndsey Brognano (Rome, N.Y. / RFA). The senior shortstop and last season's Co-NEAC North Division Player of the Year had an exceedingly rare 0-5 performance in the morning game, but followed it up with a 2-for-3 day against Waldorf. Brognano, in fact, accounted for half of SUNYIT's hits and scored both the team's runs on the day, as SUNYIT struggled to get much going against Waldorf pitcher Holly Gilbertson.
The Waldorf bats, in comparison, were very much alive as the Warriors pounded out 14 hits. Leading the way was cleanup hitter Michelle Eden. The first basemen knocked in three runs on the day, including a 2-run homer in the second inning on her way to a 2-for-3 day.