Pitching Dominates as Softball Sweeps in Florida Doubleheader

NAPLES, Fla. – The Mitchell College softball team swept both games of a doubleheader on Tuesday at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic, topping Crown College 7-2 and then Rutgers University–Newark by a 2-1 final.

The Mariners receive stellar pitching in both contests, riding their one-two punch of junior Katelyn Lipsky (Plantsville, Conn.) and sophomore Emily Reynolds (Somers, Conn.). Lipskey got the start in the opener and picked up her second win of the season, holding Crown to just four hits and two runs while striking out 12. Reynolds took the circle in the second game and kept the Scarlet Raiders bats at bay, throwing seven innings of one run ball, allowing just three hits along the way.

The Mariners (4-2 overall) will continue their spring break trip on Wednesday, March 15, with games against SUNY Cobleskill at 1:00 pm and Westfield State at 3:00 pm.  

Game 1 – Mitchell 7, Crown College 2

The Mariners wasted no time in jumping out to a lead on their third day of action at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic. Sophomore Brooke Whitmarsh (Portsmouth, R.I.) gave Mitchell a 1-0 edge in the top of the first with an RBI groundout to the shortstop, scoring Gemma Landry (Lewiston, M.E.), who had reached on a single to right field.

The Mariners then plated four more runs in the top half of the second inning when Jenna Bennett (Shelton, Conn.), Sarah Aviles (Griswold, Conn.), and Emily Reynolds (Somers, Conn.) each came through with run scoring singles off Crown starter Ashley Earick. Mitchell would add a pair of insurance runs down the stretch; the first on an Emma LaBreck (Rollinsford, N.H.) sacrifice fly, and the second when Cassandra Roman (New London, Conn.) scampered home on an error by the Polars shortstop.

Crown managed to push one run across in the bottom of the fourth and fifth inning, but it proved irrelevant, as Mitchell Katleyn Lipsky shut the door, allowing just four hits and two earned runs while striking out 12, good for her second victory of the season.

Emily Reynolds led the Mariners at the plate, finishing 3-4 with a double and a pair of runs driven in.

Game 2 – Mitchell 2, Rutgers-Newark 1

A true pitcher's duel, this game remained scoreless until the bottom of the fifth inning, when a Scarlet Raiders error allowed Hailey Hill (Griswold, Conn.) to race home on a groundout by Hannah Lemke (East Haddam, Conn.).

Rutgers tied the game in the top of the sixth on an RBI single off the bat of Alex Di martino, but the Mariners responded by plating to go-ahead run in the bottom of the inning on a Lemke's second RBI of the game, a single to centerfield. Sarah Aviles went 3-3 to lead Mitchell at the plate, while Brooke Whitmarsh collected two hits. Madison Umlauf surrended just one earned run across six innings of work for Rutgers-Newark.