Gators tally key sweep of Skyline Conference foe, Purchase
Troy, NY---- The Sage Colleges softball team hosted the Panthers of Purchase College in the first Skyline Conference home doubleheader of the season. Sage topped Purchase 10-9 in nine innings in the first game and racked up a 6-2 victory in the nightcap. Sage improves to 6-9 overall and 2-4 in the Skyline Conference, while Purchase falls to 3-5 overall and 0-4 in the league.
Sage returns to action on Sunday, hosting the College of Mt. Saint Vincent in a Skyline Conference doubleheader at 1 p.m. at Robison Field.
Game # 1 Sage 10-9 Purchase (9 innings)
The contest went a pair of extra innings as the two squad played to a 10-9 decision that saw Sage collect the win in the bottom of the ninth. Freshman catcher Tricia Gaulin (South Glens Falls, NY/South Glens Falls) had an RBI sacrifice fly to tie the game after Purchase score in the top of the inning to take a 9-8 lead. Freshman Katie Karkoski (Ticonderoga, NY/Ticonderoga) drove in the game-winner with her RBI single to score junior Rachel Smith (Valatie, NY/Ichabod Crane) who reached on a single to open the action.
Karkoski and Gaulin each went deep for Sage in the game and both drove in three runs in a game that saw Sage's scoreless inning streak (20 innings) halted in the first inning as Purchase took an early 2-0 lead.
Sophomore Kelsey Newberg (New Britain, CT/New Britain) tallied the complete game victory to improve to 2-4 as she yielded only one earned run in nine innings of work with 10 strikeouts.
Game # 2 Sage 6-2 Purchase
Sage jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning as Newberg had a two RBI single down the right field line. The Gators tacked on a another run in the bottom of the fourth as freshman Chantal Ceragiolo (New Paltz, NY/New Paltz) drove in a run on a single.
The Panthers made it interesting as they pulled with in one run, down 3-2 in the top of the sixth inning, but Sage answered right back with three runs on the bottom of the inning as junior third basemen Meghan Welcome (Cohoes, NY/Cohoes) connected for a two run homerun and junior Tiffany Bezio (Whiethall, NY/Whitehall) made the most of her at bat as she walked and eventually scored on a wild pitch.
Smith picked up the complete game win as she fanned five and yielded just two earned runs off 10 hits. She stands at 3-2 on the year.
