The Oswego State softball team played two doubleheaders this weekend, one against the Buffalo State Bengals and the other against the SUNY Fredonia Blue Devils.
The first game against the Bengals kicked off with a bang as Grace DiPalma singled a ball to left field. After a Mackenzie Carlson sacrifice bunt, DiPalma advanced to second and advanced to third off a wild pitch. Lily Fanea advanced to first off a dropped fly, as DiPalma made it 1-0 after reaching home. Fiona Higgins then drilled an RBI single to bring Fanea in to make it 2-0. Higgins was left on third to end the inning after a strikeout. The Bengals responded with four runs of their own, two from an RBI single and two from a blasted homerun.
Lillian Haggerty kicked off the second inning with a single to right field. Haggerty reached second off a bunt by Kira Wright. Haggerty and Wright both advanced off a sacrifice bunt off DiPalma. Madison Phinney then blasted a single to left field, Haggerty scored to make it 3-4. Fanea next hit a RBI single that advanced two runners to give the Lakers the lead, 5-4. Higgins and Jenna Mills both got out to finish the inning. The Bengals left two players on base, but did not record a single hit as the Lakers still led 5-4.
There was not much action until the bottom of the fourth inning, where the Bengals hit a triple that domino-effected into two scores. The Lakers tied the score to 6-6 in the fifth, but never retook a lead. The Bengals went on to win 8-6 after scoring two runs in the fifth inning.
The Lakers were already in a deep hole in the second game, as the Bengals rattled off four scores in the first inning. The Lakers could not respond as the Bengals went on to hit three more scores in the third inning, putting the Lakers down 7-0.
The Lakers started to crawl back in the fourth inning as Mills kicked it off with a single. Ellie Mahoney rattled off an RBI double next, bringing it to 7-1. This became 7-2 after a sacrifice fly by Higgins. After two walks, Carlson rattled off an RBI double that brought two batters in, as the game headed to the fifth inning, 7-4.
Unfortunately, that was all we saw from the Lakers’ bats, as the Bengals ran the score up by five more runs. The Bengals beat the Lakers 12-4.
The first game against the Blue Devils was very slow for the Lakers, as in the first inning they only recorded one single and 3 Ks. However, the Blue Devils quickly scored two runs in the first inning to already put the Lakers down 2-0.
The second inning began with a Higgins single. Mills followed it up with a single of her own and advanced Higgins to third. Tahlia Gerardi blasted a single that brought in two batters to tie the game up, 2-2. Three outs from the Lakers sent it to the bottom of the second. Unfortunately for the Lakers, the Blue Devils shot up the scoreboard, recording six runs in one inning to make it 8-2 heading into the third.
Neither team mustered up much offense in the third, but the Lakers began with a runner in scoring position in the fourth after a Higgins walk and a single from Mills. Gerardi singled to second base, recording an RBI to bring it to 8-3. This became 8-4 after a Wright single brought a batter in. DiPalma singled next, bringing in two batters as the Lakers crept back heading into the bottom of the fourth, 8-6. The Blue Devils could not respond for the next two innings.
After three walks given to the Lakers in the top of the sixth, they capitalized by bringing in two runners to tie it up 8-8. This was the closest the Lakers got to winning this game, as the Blue Devils rattled off five runs in the bottom of the sixth to end the game 13-8.
The second game was in the Lakers’ hands for the entire game until they dropped it in the seventh inning. The game went back and forth, with each team complementing the other with scores. The top of the seventh had the Lakers up 6-4, but the last three batters for the Blue Devils brought in a score after a score, and Fredonia ended up on top, 7-6.
The Lakers head into a doubleheader against SUNY Cortland on April 27.
Photo by: Oswego Athletics
