Record Breaker: Young Powers Skyhawks In Sweep
Game One
Boxscore
Game Two
Boxscore
Easton, Mass. - Junior Courtney Young (Danvers, Mass.) swatted her 17th career homerun in game one and had three hits in game two to catapult Stonehill to a crucial Northeast-10 doubleheader sweep over visiting St. Michael's on Saturday afternoon on Fr. Gartland Field.
The homerun for Young, which led off the fifth inning, moved her ahead of former Stonehill standout Heather O'Keefe on the school's all-time list. It was her seventh blast of the season, tying the single season record, which she set back in 2006.
Her homer helped break open a 4-2 contest as Stonehill scored two more times in the inning to make it 7-2. A Gina Vivona (Seaford, N.Y.) sacrifice fly made the score 8-2 in the sixth and senior Danielle Mason (Salisbury, Mass.) was vying for the complete game until Kelly Rose Losi smacked a two-run homer in the top of the seventh to bring the contest to 8-4.
Katie Mottau (Woonsocket, R.I.) then entered and shut the door on game one, getting the next three Purple Knight batters in succession.
Game two seemed early on as if it might be a runaway, as the Skyhawks scored four runs in the bottom of the first. The inning would have continued but Vivona was thrown out at home trying to score from second on a Meghan Sheehy (East Islip, N.Y.) single.
St. Michael's responded, getting three runs in the top of the second, two of them coming on Kate Condon double.
Single runs in the second and third gave Stonehill some breathing room at 6-3, but Losi launched her second homer of the day in the fourth, this time a three-run shot to tie the game at 6-6.
The momentum for the Purple Knights was short lived however, as Lauren Rappoli (Wilmington, Mass.) sent the first pitch of the bottom of the fourth high over the left field fence, giving the lead back to Stonehill. Doubles from Young and Vivona plated another run and Sheehy drew a bases loaded walk to move the score to 9-6 after four.
Jaime Ippolito (Chelsea, Mass.), who got the start in the circle for the Skyhawks, had two outs in the sixth when back-to-back singles chased her from the game. Mottau entered and was greeted by an RBI single from Ashley Harkins that closed the gap to 9-7.
After Megan O'Connor recorded the first 1-2-3 inning of the game, Mottau had one out in the top of the seventh when she walked Heather French. Kelly Egan, who started in the circle for the Purple Knights and then moved to second, where she made several spectacular defensive plays, connected on a game-tying homerun that bounced on the top of the fence and went over, making the score 9-9.
Stonehill looked to be in business in the bottom of the seventh when Rappoli led off the inning with a single to center. She was sacrificed to second and was still there with two outs. Caitlin Flanagan (Cornwall, N.Y.) then singled to left but a perfect throw from Meghan Colitti nailed Rappoli at the plate.
Mottau sent the Purple Knights down in order in the eighth and with one out in the bottom of the frame, Polselli reached on an error. A Sheehy single had runners at first and second when Stephanie Folan (Glen Cove, N.Y.) singled home the game-winning run.
Folan, who went 4-for-4 in game one, was 3-for-5 in game two. In the two games she scored four runs and had three RBI.
Stonehill banged out 31 hits on the day, including 18 in game two, which saw four players from Stonehill - Folan, Rappoli, Young and Flanagan - all collect three hits
For St. Michael's, which falls to 7-26 overall and 1-23 in Northeast-10 action, Losi drove in seven runs on the day including five in game two.
O'Connor took the loss in both games, while Mason (8-7) and Mottau (8-6) earned wins for Stonehill.
The Skyhawks return to action on Sunday when they travel to Southern New Hampshire for the final series of the regular season.