OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. — The St. Joseph's University, New York (Brooklyn) softball team split their Skyline doubleheader with SUNY Old Westbury on Saturday afternoon, falling 1-6 in game one before picking up a 9-5 win in the second contest.
Game 1
Up 1-0 in the third, the Panthers broke the game open with a four-run rally to push their lead to 5-0, eventually adding another in the fourth to make it 6-0.
The Bears managed to break up the shutout in the sixth when Valarie Scott drove in Brielle Nelson with an RBI single. However, that was all the offense they could muster, as Old Westbury held on for the 6-1 victory.
Scott and Nelson were joined by Alyssa Garcia (Montebello, Calif.) and Vivian Garcia (Eastvale, Calif.) in the hit column, while Nelson and Payton Walker (Eastvale, Calif.) each contributed a stolen base. Despite striking out five batters, A. Garcia was dealt the loss in the circle.
Game 2
The Bears opened the scoring with an RBI single from Audrey Scott (Rocklin, Calif.) in the first. Nicole Shultz (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) doubled in a run before scoring on Walker's infield single to extend the lead to 3-0. The Panthers trimmed the SJBK lead to one but the Bears responded with a run in the fourth, thanks to an RBI infield single by Makena Lopez (Eastvale, Calif ).
Old Westbury rallied to within one run again, but a three-run fifth gave the Bears some much-needed breathing room. Spearheaded by RBI doubles from Lopez and Shultz, the surge pushed St. Joseph's ahead 7-3.
The Bears countered the Panthers' two-run sixth with two runs of their own in their half of the stanza, propelled by a triple from V. Scott, holding on to the 9-5 result.
The offensive output was led by Shultz, V. Garcia, Walker, and V. Scott, all of whom recorded three hits. Shultz and Scott each scored three runs while the quartet contributed a total of five runs batted in. Lopez and Leah Magallanes (Sylmar, Calif.), each went 2-for-3 with a run scored and together drove in three runs. A. Scott and Leila Heller (Belle Chasse, La.) rounded out the hitting, each batting 1-for-4.
Makena Burr (Foster City, Calif.) struck out a pair in a complete-game effort, improving to 6-4 on the year.
The Bears travel to Manhattanville University for a Sunday doubleheader beginning at 12 pm.
