Led by Coach Megan T. Bryant, the Seawolves softball team recently completed an 8-2 road trip that included victories over conference rivals Hartford, UMBC and Binghamton. The pitching of Sophomore Alyssa Struzenberg led the way for the Seawolves. Over the ten game stretch she had an ERA of 2.27 over 43 innings. She also struck out 57 batters.
April 9 marked the first game of the trip, a double header on the road against Hartford. They lost the first game by a score of 1-0 but they picked it back up again to win the second game 4-2.
Saturday April 12, the girls continued their winning streak on the road. They traveled to Baltimore, Maryland to face UMBC. They won their doubleheader with scores of 10-7 for the first game, and 3-2 for the second game. Stand out performances in these games were made by sophomore Vicki Kavitsky, sophomore Casey Jacobs, junior Kelsi Fanelli, senior Ashley Westphal, junior Marissa Fleury, sophomore Jade Clare, Sophomore Alyssa Struzenberg and junior Molly Kestranek. The team stayed in Baltimore overnight to conclude their series on Sunday April 13. Unfortunately UMBC came back and beat the Seawolves to 2-1.
On April 17, the Seawolves swept a double header from Iona. The two games were highlighted by great pitching performances by the Seawolves. In the first game, a 2-1 victory, Alyssa Struzenberg gave up only two hits while walking five as she pitched strongly into the seventh inning. Casey Jacobs came on to record the final two outs and picked up the save. The win moved Struzenberg’s record to 13-6 on the season.
The second game saw the Seawolves jump out to a 4-0 lead after two innings and never look back. Iona was able to come with into two after scoring a pair in the bottom of the fourth, but the Seawolves stuck right back in the fifth. A pair of RBI singles by Jacobs and Katelyn O’Donnell restored the Seawolves lead to four, and they went on to win the game 6-4. In a game that was sloppy defensively with each team committing four errors, Jacobs pitched the final three innings to pick up the victory, her fifth of the season.
The team then traveled to Binghamtom for a three game set. The Seawolves pitching staff gave up a total of one run in the series, and they outscored Binghamton 11-1 over the weekend. In the first game of a doubleheader on April 19, Alyssa Struzenberg once again came up with a dominating performance. She pitched a no hitter over seven innings, while striking out ten batters. The offense responded with six runs, and the Seawolves were well on their way to an easy victory.
In the second game, the pitching shined once again. The combo of Jacobs and Struzenberg combined on a four hitter. Binghamton picked up its only run of the weekend in the third against Jacobs. The game was tied at one going into the seventh, until a pair of RBI singles by Kelsi Fanelli and Ashley Westphal provided the Seawolves with the final 3-1 margin.
Struzenberg started the final game of the series and got off to a shaky start. She allowed a hit and a walk in the first inning, before eventually settling down to retire the final nineteen batters for a one hit shutout. The Seawolves offense was held in check once again, but Molly Kestranek broke the scoreless tie with an RBI double. The Seawolves added an insurance run and won the game 2-0.
After the successful road trip the Seawolves stand at 23-16-1, 8-6 in the America East. They return to action on Wednesday when the host the Hartford Hawks for a single game at 3:00 pm.
