COMMERCE, Texas. (February 9, 2024) – Stonehill College softball split a pair of non-conference games to open its 2024 season at the Cain Family Sports Complex on the campus of Texas A&M-Commerce in the Lion Classic.
The Skyhawks fell in the first game, 8-7, to Texas Southern before securing a 7-5 victory against the host Lions in the nightcap as junior Skylar Brandemarte (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) threw a complete game in the win.
GAME 1:
Texas Southern struck in the top half of the first inning as first baseman Saniah Henderson doubled down the left field line to bring Jordan McClain in from second base after she reached on a single and stole a base to lead off the game.
Stonehill knotted the score in the bottom half of the first when junior Shannon Conte (Amesbury, Mass.) lined a single up the middle that sent sophomore Natalie Bottiglieri (Massapequa, N.Y.) in to score as the Skyhawks started with three straight singles.
Conte broke the 1-1 tie in the third inning when she doubled down the left field line to bring in senior Maeve Proulx (Westford, Mass.) as she started her 2024 season 2-2 with two runs batted in. Stonehill tallied three runs total in the third inning to take a 4-1 lead.
Freshman Alexa Hospodar (Old Bethpage, N.Y.) made her debut on the mound for the Skyhawks and retired nine of the next 10 batters after giving up a run in the first inning until a home run from Lanay Carr cut the Tigers deficit to 4-2.
Texas Southern scored four runs in the fifth inning as Hospodar exited her first career start with 4.2 innings pitched, throwing 64 strikes out of her 87 pitches.
Sophomore Lauren Donovan (Marblehead, Mass.) came in for relief and recorded seven straight outs before giving up two runs in the top of the seventh when the Tigers extended their lead to 8-4.
The Skyhawks made things interesting in the bottom half of the seventh as the first three batters got on base, eventually leading to three runs for Stonehill which made the score 8-7. Junior Isabella Therrien (Auburn, Mass.) came up to the plate with two outs and the tying run on second base but grounded out to third as the Skyhawk rally came up short.
GAME 2:
Both Stonehill and Texas A&M-Commerce went scoreless through the first two innings before Bottiglieri laid down a sacrifice bunt to bring junior Emily Nardelli (North Attleboro, Mass.) home as the Skyhawks took a 1-0 lead.
Therrien extended the Stonehill lead to 2-0 the very next inning after doubling to center field as Conte crossed home plate after reaching on an error. The Lions also tacked on a run in the fourth inning when Diamond Sefe sent an RBI single into left-center to score the runner on second base.
Both offenses got it rolling in the fifth as each team tallied four runs with the Skyhawks notching two doubles and a single to fuel their run in the top half of the inning. Conte continued her stellar day at the plate as she drove in two runs with a double to left center field. In the bottom half of the fifth, the Lions had five of their next seven batters reach base with two walks, two singles, and a double plating four runners.
With the Skyhawks holding onto a narrow 6-5 lead in the top half of the sixth, junior Paige Wodarski (Danvers, Mass.) waited patiently at the plate with the bases loaded, walking in an extra insurance run as Stonehill shut down the Lions in the bottom half of the sixthand seventh inning as Brandemarte secured a 7-5 win for Stonehill with a complete game on the mound.
UP NEXT
Stonehill softball returns to action tomorrow afternoon for day two of the Lion Classic as the Skyhawks take on both Texas Southern (2 p.m. EST) and Texas A&M-Commerce (5 p.m. EST) again in another doubleheader from the Cain Family Sports Complex in Commerce, Texas.
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