On Sat. and Sun. the Stony Brook Seawolves Softball Team played a 3-game series at home against SUNY rival Binghamton and swept them in dramatic fashion. Saturday’s scores were 11-8 and 3-2. Sunday’s score was also 3-2. With the wins, the Seawolves stand at 24-13, 10-3 in conference play. They are one game behind Boston University for the top spot in the America East Conference.
The first game saw the Seawolves pull out a to a 7-0 lead after 3 innings, blow it, with the game tied 8-8 after the top of the 5th, followed by an SB rally during their half of the 5th. SB pulled out to an early lead with Victoria Kavitsky scoring on a Kelsi Fanelli single in the 1st. In the 2nd inning, the lead grew to 2-0 on a Ashley Westphal RBI single. They broke it open in the 3rd, with RBIs coming from Kelly Oberto, Jade Clare, Crista Cerrone, and Westphal. It was after the 4th run of the inning that Binghamton’s pitcher Whitaker came out.
It was in the 4th inning that the Bearcats got on the board, due to miscues by the Seawolves. A Binghamton player advanced on a passed ball and another player advanced and scored because on an error at 1st base by Samantha Posey. SB bounced back with another run, also scored on an error, in their half of the inning to make it 8-2. Things came unraveled in the 5th, with Binghamton picking up six hits and scoring six runs to tie the game up at eight. In the bottom of the inning, SB got back on top following a series of Albany errors and walks. The lead was 11-8, and the Seawolves were able shut down the Bearcats for the last 2 innings.
Sarah Hoffman was on the mound for the first 5 innings and picked up the win, giving her an 11-4 record. Alyssa Struzenberg got her 2nd save. Mistakes were Binghamton’s undoing, with the Bearcats giving up only 7 earned runs to SB’s 8.
20 minutes later, it was game on again for the second half of the doubleheader. Struzenberg, the closer from the previous game, was back on the mound and threw a complete game in what would be a win. Marissa Fleury put SB on the board in the 1st, driving in Kavitsky with a single. Fleury would later advance home on a Binghamton error to put SB on top 2-0. The 2nd inning was scoreless, though SB left two runners stranded. Binghamton tied it up in the 3rd. The inning began with 3 hitters walking, followed by an RBI single. The next hitter reached first on a fielder’s choice, as the player running home was thrown out. A sacrifice fly brought in the second Bearcat run of the inning. Two runners would be left on base at the end of the inning. The next 2 innings were uneventful. SB got their final run in the 5th on a homer by Fanelli. In the 7th, SB had a scare, with the tying run getting to second after a walk and a passed ball, but they wouldn’t score, and SB won the game.
Sunday’s game was the same as the first two in that Binghamton was its own undoing. As in the second game, it was even money on earned runs for each team, and it was runs SB scored on errors that made the difference. This time, it was the Bearcats drawing first blood, scoring 2 runs in the 2nd on 4 hits. SB picked up a run in the 3rd due to Binghamton miscues. A strikeout for Cerrone was erased by a wild pitch that allowed her to steal first. She reached second on another wild pitch. She would later score on a Kavitsky double. Fanelli then reached first on a Bearcat error. However, Binghamton finally got out of the jam, holding SB to just one run. In the 4th, SB tied it up. Molly Kestranek had a leadoff double. She would eventually score on a sacrifice fly. In the 6th, SB gave Binghamton another scare, with a pair of singles, complicated by the first runner advancing on a Bearcats balk. However, Binghamton got out of the jam, with SB stranding two, including one runner on third. Going into the bottom of the 7th the game was still tied. The leadoff hitter, Westphal, reached on an error. She advanced on a single by Fanelli. Fleury walked, loading the bases. Posey drove in the winning run on a sacrifice fly to end the game with a 3-2 win for the Seawolves. Hoffman, who pitched a complete game, got here second win in 2 days.
The Seawolves go up to Hartford on Wed. for a conference game. The game begins at 3:00PM.
