SOFTBALL OPENS SPRING TRIP WITH SPLIT
Winter Haven, Fla. (3/2/24) The Dominican University New York softball team opened the 2024 season with a split on their trip to the Spring Games in Winter Haven, Fla.
Dominican earned a comeback victory over Upper Iowa University in their opening game but fell to Concordia University, St. Paul in game two.
Game One: The Lady Chargers scored three seventh inning runs to comeback and earn a 5-4 victory in their opening game.
Sophomore pitcher Emily Baxter (Bucoda, Wash.) tossed a complete game and earned her first win of the season. Baxter allowed four earned runs and struck out four batters over a complete seven innings.
Upper Iowa jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning after a two run single by Taylor Sedam.
DU rallied in the top half of the second inning to tie the game at 2-2 after an RBI-groundout by Emily Angulo (Wilmington, Calif.) followed by an RBI-single by Rosemary Espinoza (Beaumont, Calif.).
The Peacocks scored one run in the fourth inning and one run in the sixth inning to extend to a 4-2 lead over Dominican.
Dominican rallied for three runs in the top of the seventh inning after an RBI-single by Jalaeya LaPorte (Sylmar, Calif.) cut the deficit in half. Haylee Ridge (Bellflower, Calif.) delivered the big go ahead two-run homer to give the Lady Chargers the lead.
Baxter shut the door with a 1-2-3 seventh inning to secure the 5-4 win in game one.
Dominican finished with nine total hits. Giovanna Salcido (Diamond Bar, Calif.) and Toni-Jo Lopez (Sylmar, Calif.) each went 2-3 in the victory.
Game Two: DU's comeback efforts in game two fell short as they dropped game two to Concordia-St. Paul by a score of 10-7 and earned a split on day one of their spring trip.
The Golden Bears struck for eight runs over the first three innings of the game. Dominican scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning and fought their way back into the game with five runs over three innings to cut the Golden Bear lead to 8-7.
Two insurance runs in the top of the seventh inning gave the Golden Bears a 10-7 lead and helped secure the win.
Ridge and Salcido combined for six hits and each drove in one run in the loss for the Lady Chargers. Madison Walker (Southampton, N.J.) finished 1-3 and two walks with three runs scored.
Emma Kaszovitz (Hicksville, N.Y.) added one hit and two runs scored while Adriana Barnes (North Brunswick, N.J.) delivered a two-RBI double.
The Lady Chargers continue their trip to Winter Haven, Fla. tomorrow with a doubleheader against Mercyhurst University and Seton Hill University.