Softball splits doubleheader with Wagner

Softball splits doubleheader with Wagner

By Mark Spillane, QBSN Staff Writer

The Quinnipiac softball team could not pull off a clean sweep in a doubleheader against Wagner Saturday afternoon, dropping the first game 5-4, but came back out for the second game without holding back, winning 9-2.  The split makes for the fifth time the Bobcats have broken even in a doubleheader this season.  

Quinnipiac dropped game one of the doubleheader after sophomore Katie Alfiere (Beacon Falls, Conn.) was roughed up for three earned runs on five hits over 2.1 innings to start the game.

           

Senior Christy Cabrera (West Sacramento, Calif.) entered in relief of Alfiere and kept the Bobcats in it by giving up just one unearned run over three innings.

           

The Bobcats pushed a few of their own runs across the plate in the fourth inning.

courtesy: quinnipiacbobcats.com

Junior Alex Alba (Sylmar, Calif.) got the scoring started with a solo shot to lead off the inning. Alba’s fourth homerun of the season was followed by a walk to senior Mina Duffy (Piedmont, Calif.), and an RBI double by freshman Nikki Barba (San Diego, Calif.) to cut the Seahawks lead to 4-2 and drive Wagner starter, Samantha Bedker, from the game in favor of Judy Betz.

Quinnipiac was not done as Alfiere laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Barba to third. The very next at bat, junior Bridget Figmic (Stratford, Conn.) was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners for junior Kortney Kesses (Woodbridge, Conn.).

After Figmic stole second, Kesses hit a hard ground ball to shortstop, Kelsey Parker. Parker could not make the play, allowing Barba and Figmic to score on the error to knot the score at four. Three of the runs were charged to Bedker, with just one given to Betz.

Following a scoreless fifthninning, senior Heather Schwartzburg (Mission Viejo, Calif.) entered the game in relief after Cabrera allowed two batters to reach base. Schwartzburg promptly struck out two Seahawks to end the inning.

Both teams remained silent until the Seahawks solved Schwartzburg for a run in the ninth on a Brittany Huss walk and an Ashley Olson RBI single.

“Well the pitch was in a three-spot, but it dropped too late. She just got a hold of it,” Schwartzburg said of the single.

Unfortunately for the Bobcats, they remained stifled by Betz, as she tossed six innings of one hit ball, while striking out five and allowing no walks to earn the victory.  Schwartzburg lost just her fourth game of the year, but continued pitching at the start of game two.

With the Bobcats already up 5-0 in the first inning of game two of Saturday’s doubleheader, senior catcher Ashley Heiberger (Sioux Falls, S.D.) blasted her second home run of the season to put the game out of reach.

           

The three-run shot off the face of the scoreboard in straightaway centerfield gave the Bobcats a commanding 8-0 lead that they would never relinquish.

           

Quinnipiac chased Wagner both starter Olivia Zwick and Bedker from the game before either could record an out. The duo was tagged for a combined six earned runs on four hits and two walks.

           

courtesy: quinnipiacbobcats.com

Zwick took the loss as Ashley Rollins pitched the remaining six innings for the Seahawks.

           

Schwartzburg pitched three quality innings, but tired in the fourth before she allowed two earned runs and turned it over to Alfiere to record the final 11 outs. Alfiere bounced back from her game one struggles to hold Wagner scoreless and earn her sixth victory of the season.

Head Coach Germaine Fairchild said she knows the Bobcats will need to avoid splitting doubleheaders to really make some ground.

 “At some point we’re going to have to have one [sweep],” she said.  “At some point, we’re going to have to take it up a notch, and sweep somebody.”

             

With the split, Quinnipiac moved to 20-12 overall and 7-5 in the Northeast Conference. Wagner finished the day with a 15-27 overall record, including a 4-8 conference record. 

With her nine strikeouts on the day, Schwartzburg pushed her season total to 134, and her career tally to 891.

           

The Bobcats return to action tomorrow with a doubleheader against the Fairleigh Dickinson University Knights. The first pitch of game one is scheduled for 12 p.m.