April 23, 2012

Softball Falls to Monmouth, 11-6

Sophomore Arielle Bruno hit a home run in the loss.

The Central Connecticut softball team fell to Monmouth by a score of 11-6 on Monday afternoon. The Blue Devils (25-17, 7-7 NEC) led early in the game, but the Hawks (18-18, 8-8 NEC) scored one in the second and four in the fourth to take a 5-1 lead.

With one out in the first inning freshman Kat Malcolm walked and advanced to second on a ground out by sophomore Tessa Brown. Junior Nicole Springer's two-out single up the middle scored Malcolm and gave Central the lead.

Monmouth responded with a solo home run by Vanessa Cardoza in the second inning.

Katie Schumacher followed with a home run in the top of the fourth to give the Hawks a 2-1 advantage. Monmouth added three more runs in the inning on a pair of hits and a Blue Devil throwing error.

Katie Schumacher hit her second home run of the day in the fifth inning. The two run shot put her team ahead 7-1.

Freshman Laura Messina took the loss in the circle, she falls to 19-9 on the season. She worked 4.1 innings and allowed seven runs, six earned, on seven hits. She struck out two and walked one.

Junior Jordan Tingley got the final two outs of the fifth and pitched the final two innings. She allowed four runs on seven hits, but only two of the runs she allowed were earned. She struck out two and walked two.

In the bottom of the fifth the Blue Devils scored four runs, cutting Monmouth's lead to 7-5. Junior Stephanie Chotkevys walked to start the inning and advanced to second on a ground ball. With one out, sophomore Arielle Bruno stepped to the plate and hit a long home run to left field.

With two outs, Brown walked and Springer singled to center. Freshman Alyssa McCoart drew a walk to load the bases for senior Sarah Vlahos. Vlahos lined a double down the left field line to score a pair of runners and cut her team's deficit to 7-5.

The Hawks ended Central's momentum by scoring two runs in the sixth and another two in the seventh.

Brown hit a solo home run to lead off the seventh inning and Springer followed with a single, but the Blue Devils were unable to rally.

Springer and Bruno combined for five of the Blue Devils' eight hits. Springer finished the day with three hits and an RBI. Bruno had two hits and two runs batted in. Vlahos also drove in two runs.

The Blue Devils return to action on Wednesday in a non-conference doubleheader at Siena College.