Softball Drops Two to Coast Guard
NEW LONDON, Conn. – Hayden Short went 5-for-6 with two doubles, a homer and seven RBI to lead Coast Guard Academy to a doubleheader sweep of host Mitchell College on Wednesday afternoon.
The Bears, who batted as the home team, won the opener 8-3 and the nightcap 9-7. The games were originally scheduled to be played at Coast Guard, but unplayable field conditions moved the series to Mitchell.
The Bears snapped a nine-game slide to improve to 7-15 on the season while Mitchell dropped to 2-14 overall.
GAME 1: COAST GUARD 8, MITCHELL 3
Short was 3-for-3 with a homer, two runs scored and four RBI while Sarah Sorensen went the distance in the circle. She allowed seven hits and two earned runs while walking two and fanning four to improve to 4-12 on the season.
Mitchell struck first as Suzanne Vachon led off with a triple and scored on a throwing error in the top of the first. Coast Guard then scored twice to take the lead in the home half of the first on a two-run double by Casey Cruzpino.
The Mariners tied the game 2-2 in the second on an RBI single by Jenny Groman.
The Bears took the lead for good in the third on a sacrifice fly by Emily Hvozdovich before Short blasted a solo homer to left for a 4-2 lead. Short added an RBI single in the fourth to extend the lead to 5-2.
Coast Guard put the game away with three in the sixth with the big hit again coming from Short. Her two-run single was followed by Cruzpino's RBI single for an 8-3 lead.
Hvozdovich and Cruzpino (three RBI) each had two hits in the win for Coast Guard while Samantha DelConte and Vachon added two hits each for Mitchell.
Brittany Fiederlein (2-7 overall) went the distance and took the loss for Mitchell.
GAME 2: COAST GUARD 9, MITCHELL 7
Coast Guard built a 6-1 lead and held on for the 9-7 win behind a complete-game performance from Mackenzie Everett. Short went 2-for-3 with three RBI while Emily Hogan had three hits in the win.
Hogan got the Bears on the board in the first on an RBI double before Sharayah Simco added an RBI single for a 2-0 lead.
Mitchell struck in the second as Groman doubled and scored on a ground out by Taylor Duchesneau. Coast Guard answered right back on an RBI single by Hogan for a 3-1 lead.
The Bears scored three in the third as Cherokee Strickland led off with a deep homer to left. Kelli Franza had an RBI double before Sara Cammuso added an RBI single to push the lead to 6-1.
Duchesneau had an RBI single in the fourth before Emma Hvozdovich led off the home half of the inning with a solo homer to center for a 7-2 lead.
The Mariners got two in the fifth on an RBI double by DelConte and an RBI single by Shannon O'Neil to make the score 7-4. Coast Guard got both runs back in the bottom of the inning on a two-run double by Short.
Mitchell rallied in the seventh, getting four straight singles to begin the inning. The last two came from DelConte and O'Neil, and each drove in runs to make the score 9-6. The final run scored via a wild pitch, and the Mariners stranded the tying run on first base as back-to-back ground outs ended the game.
Everett improved to 2-2 on the season, scattering 11 hits while walking one and striking out five to earn the win. Duchesneau (0-7 overall) was the starter and took the loss for Mitchell.
DelConte and O'Neil were both 3-for-4 in the game while Fiederlein was 2-for-2 off the bench.
Mitchell will next play at Regis College on Saturday, April 9 at noon.