FLUSHING, N.Y. – Playing in sunny and chilly conditions, the Queens College softball team earned a Saturday afternoon East Coast Conference doubleheader split against the visiting D'Youville University Saints at QC Softball Field.
It was two close games as the Knights continued to battle in each game this season but were unable to find the hit they needed to open the win column as they dropped a hard-fought game one to the score of 3-1. But in game two, the Knights' offense clicked as they rallied back from 5-1 down to earn a 6-5 victory against the Saints for their first ECC win of the season.
With the win, the Knights move to 1-3 in conference play, while the Saints moved to 4-1 in ECC play on the season.
The Knights outhit the Saints 7-4 led by the junior duo of
Cyarra Alvarado (Coral Spring, Fla) (2-2 AB, HR, R, BB) and
Joy Papagianopoulos (Wading River, N.Y.) (2-3 AB) multi-hit game.
Alvarado gave the Knights a quick lead as the junior blasted her second home run of the season off the second pitch she saw to left-center field for a 1-0 lead.
In the circle, senior
Emma Wimmer (Mount Sinai, N.Y.) earned the game one start and went to work quickly as she held the Saints hitless for the first two innings of play as she was dealing with an early lead.
But the Saints would tie the game in the third inning as they took advantage of a passed ball to score on a two-out as the Knights' defense was unable to get the final out at first base.
Looking to respond back in the home half of the third inning, Alvarado earned a one-out walk before the Saints got the second out with a fly-out to right field. Queens would put runners on second and first as senior
Danielle D'Angelo (Middle Island, N.Y.) (1-3 AB) singled to the right-field but Alvarado would have to hold up at second base. D'Youville would get the last out with a grounder to first base to escape the inning without any damage.
In the circle, Wimmer was spinning a web as she continued to keep the D'Youville offense quiet.
But the Saints would get tally to two runs in the top of the sixth to take a 3-1 lead as they knocked in two hits. After Wimmer opened the sixth inning with a new career-high in strikeouts as she punched her sixth batter of the day, the Saints put a runner on a first with a single.
The Knights looked to have gotten got the second out as they caught the Saints runner stealing second but the field umpire would rule the runner safe. Wimmer would walk the next batter before she got the second out with her seventh strikeout of the day.
The Saints would take a 3-1 lead with a double to right field as the ball bounced off the right-field fence before the Knights got the final out with a grounder to third base.
The Knights would tally three hits in the final two innings but were unable to complete the rally as they dropped a hard-fought game one to the score of 3-1.
Despite being outhit 12-7 in game two, the Knights took advantage of four Saints errors, while
Ann Grimshaw (New Hyde Park, N.Y.) (2-3 AB, 2B, 2RBI) and freshman
Emma Zumpol (Patchogue, N.Y.) (2-3 AB, RBI, R) knocked in a multi-hit performance.
The nightcap began with the Saints taking advantage of two fielding errors to take a 2-0 lead. But the Knights would respond right away as Alvarado began the home half earning a walk before the Saints got the next two outs. But Grimshaw would cut the score down in half as she singled up the middle driving home Alvarado from second bringing the score down to 2-1.
The Saints would extend their advantage to 5-1 after four innings as the Knights' offense was struggling to get going in the middle innings.
Trialing 5-1 to open the fifth inning, with one out, Zumpol singled down the left line to start the rally. Papagianopoulos would reach first base on fielder choice but a fielding error would allow Zumpol to reach third base. With runners on the corner, Alvarado reached first base on a throwing error by the Saints pitcher allowing Zumpol to score from third before Papagianopoulos took advantage of a fielding error to score from second to cut the score down to 5-3 and allowing Alvarado to advance to second.
Alvarado would steal third base before freshman
Amanda Baez (Smithtown, N.Y.) (1-4 AB, RBI) cut the score down to 5-4 with a RBI single to the Saints shortstop as the visitors were unable to get the throw in time at first base.
The Saints would finally get the second out as D'Angelo popped out to second base. But next batter, Grimshaw would tie the game with a RBI double as the ball just missed for a home run but the Knights' offense was starting to get into their groove.
In the circle sophomore
Arianna Fracchioni (Westbury, N.Y.) (W, 1-2, 3.0 IP, 4H) came in relief and shut out the Saints' offense limiting them to four hits as the Knights' offense looked to complete the rally.
After Fracchioni worked out of one-out double in the top half of the sixth, the Knights looked to complete their rally.
Junior
Jenny Murphy (East Islip, N.Y.) (1-2 AB, 2B, R) battled back from being down 0-2 in a seven-pitch at-bat before she tallied a double to center field to open the inning. Next batter Fracchioni advanced Murphy to third with a successful sac bunt to bring up Zumpol to bat.
Zumpol saw the first ball go for a ball before she delivered with a RBI single to right field driving home Murphy from third base to give the Knights a 6-5 lead.
Leading 6-5 to open the final inning of the game, Fracchioni got the first Saints batter to fly out to right field before the Saints put a runner on first with a single to center field.
Head coach
Amy Delmore turned to Wimmer
(S1, 0.2 IP, H, 2K) to close out the game as Wimmer made her second appearance of the day and first in relief of the season. The Saints would tally their second hit in a row to put runners on second and first with one out.
But staying composed Wimmer would strike out her ninth Saints batter of the batter on four pitches. A wild pitch would advance both runners into scoring position as Wimmer battled for the final out of the game. A seven-pitch at-bat battle with the Knights up 6-5 and the Saints offense looking to at least tie the game would end with Wimmer getting her 10th strikeout of the day as the Mount Saini native delivered in relief to pick her first save of the season.
UP NEXT: Head coach
Amy Delmore and the Knights continue East Coast Conference Tuesday (Apr. 5) afternoon as they welcome two-time defending conference champions Purple Knights of the University of Bridgeport to Flushing. The first pitch is set for 3:00 P.M.
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