After dropping three straight games to conference rival Boston University over the weekend, Stony Brook University’s softball team bounced back and swept the Lafayette College Leopards in a doubleheader on Tuesday.
The Seawolves were led by sophomore Suzanne Karath (Fishkill, N.Y.), who went 4-for-5 with two RBIs. Stony Brook improved to 15-11 (3-3 America East) with the wins.
Senior Alyssa Struzenberg (Cooper City, Fla.) allowed just one hit in the 8-0 victory in game one. She had to battle early after dealing five walks in the first two innings, but eventually settled down and retired nine straight at one point. Her attempt at a no-hitter was broken up after Lafayette’s Jordan Parsons hit a single with two outs in the fifth inning. Struzenberg pitched five strong innings and finished with six strikeouts.
Senior Crista Cerrone (Floral Park, N.Y.) also chipped in at the plate, going 1-for-2 with two RBIs.
The Seawolves were able to take advantage of two errors by the Leopards to score four runs, three of them unearned, in the first inning. Stony Brook would add three more runs in the second inning on the strength of back-to-back RBI singles from Cerrone and Karath to push the lead to 7-0. Stony Brook’s final run came in the third inning off of an RBI single from freshman Taylor Chain (Gloucester, N.J.).
In game two, junior Colleen Matthes (Severn, Md.) allowed just one run on four hits over seven innings in a complete-game effort. Matthes finished the game with five strikeouts.
Both teams were held scoreless until Stony Brook broke the tie in the third inning. The Seawolves played small-ball after Karath hit a single with one out. Freshman Gina Bianculli (Oakdale, N.Y.) laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Karath to second base.
After senior Vicki Kavitsky (Cherry Hill, N.J.) was intentionally walked, Karath was able to steal third and scored on a bunt single from junior Brigette Martin (New York, N.Y.).
The bases were loaded after sophomore Bernadette Tenuto (Audubon, N.J.) was able to reach on an error, and then Chain singled down the left-field line to bring in Kavitsky and Martin and give Stony Brook a 3-0 lead.
The Seawolves added one more run in the sixth inning after an RBI double from Kavitsky scored Bianculli.
Matthes dominated Lafayette throughout the game and had a no-hitter going into the seventh inning. But it wasn’t meant to be, as the Leopards were able to load the bases on three straight singles with one out. Lafayette scored its only run on a sacrifice fly from Madeline Allen.
The Seawolves were able to total 12 hits and 12 runs over two games after being held to one run in three games against Boston University over the weekend.
Stony Brook is in fifth place in the seven-team America East Conference after six conference games.
Stony Brook returns to action on Saturday, taking on Hartford in a doubleheader. The first game starts at 12 p.m.
