MAY 13, 2010
ITHACA, NY – Fourth-seeded Alfred University broke open a scoreless game with six runs in the fifth inning as the Saxons posted a 9-1 victory over King's College in the first round of the NCAA Division III National Softball Tournament regional event Thursday at Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY.
With the win, Alfred improved to 35-6 on the year while King's fell to 22-17. The win moves Alfred to a second-round matchup with fellow first-round winner, top-seeded Cortland State. King's will play an elimination game with Keuka, which dropped a 7-1 decision to Cortland in the first round, Friday at 10:00 a.m.
The King's-Keuka game will be available on LiveStats at:
The game will also be voice streamed over the internet at:
http://www.vicradio.org/
The game shaped up as a pitching battle between King's senior Lindsey Hoerner, the Freedom Conference “Pitcher of the Year”, and Alfred sophomore Nicole Hedrick, the Empire Eight Conference “Player of the Year”. Entering the fifth inning, both pitchers yielded two hits apiece,
With the game tied at 0-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Alfred struck first when Angela Netta led off with a walk and moved to second on a bunt single by Hana Gross. The Saxons then took a 1-0 lead when King's misplayed a sacrifice bunt by Shannon Mather, allowing Netta to score from second on the error. Alfred pitcher Nicole Hedrick helped her own cause when she followed with a RBI single to left field to push the score to 2-0. Molly Shepherd then came through with a three-run home run to give the Saxons a 5-0 advantage. Jessica LeBarron pushed the score to 6-0 when she followed up with a solo home run for Alfred.
King's attempted to counter in the sixth when Meaghan Galvin singled to centerfield and advanced to second on an infield out. After another infield ground out moved Galvin to third-base, King's would get on the board when Hedrick was called for an illegal pitch, bringing Galvin home from third. After Hoerner walked, Parfitt grounded out to end the inning as King's trailed 6-1.
Alfred, though, would put the game away in the bottom of the sixth when Gross led off with a double and scored on a single to center by Mather. After Hedrick singled, Shepherd walked to load the bases. Mather then upped the score to 8-1 when she scored from third on another wild pitch. The game would end when LeBarron singled to right field to bring home Hedrick from third as the game was halted due to the eight-run rule.
King's had chances in the game but were unable to register timely hits. The Lady Monarchs first threatened in their first at-bars when Gretchen Tholen stroked a one-out double to right field, then moved to third base on an infield out. Hedrick worked out of the jam when Lindsey Hoerner grounded out to second to end the inning.
In the top of the fourth inning King's looked to score when Hoerner smacked a two-out single to centerfield. But Christie Parfitt drilled a line drive down the third-base line that Shepherd made a leaping catch on to end the inning for the Saxons.
King's again missed out on another chance in the fifth inning when Kayla Rutkoski reached first on a one-out single to right field, then moved to second on a bunt by Annie Erndl. The inning would end, however, when Rachel Zinni made the final out of the inning with an infield pop up.
King's had four hits on the day, with Galvin, Hoerner, Tholen and Rutkoski tallying one each for the Lady Monarchs. Hoerner (15-10) was the losing pitcher, allowing six runs, five earned, on six hits while striking out two batters. Erndl came into the game in the sixth inning after Hoerner aggravated a pre-existing leg injury and yielded three runs, two earned, on four hits.
Alfred had 10 hits in the game with eight coming in the fifth and six innings. The Saxons were paced by Gross who went 3-for-3 with a run scored. Shepherd was 2-for-3 with three RBI while LeBarron was 2-for-4 with a RBI. Hedrick was the winning pitcher, allowing four hits in six innings of work, walking one batter and striking out five
Should King's defeat Keuka on Friday, the Lady Monarchs will then play another elimination game Saturday at noon against an opponent to be determined.
