Softball Blanks Top-Seed LIU, 2-0, To Open NEC Championship Tournament Action
Blue Devils Will Now Face St. Francis In The Winners' Bracket On Saturday Morning
A solo home run by Abby Meehan, the first of her CCSU career, in the top of the third inning and an RBI-double by Kassandra (KC) Machado in the sixth inning, would be to be all the offense that the CCSU softball team would require on Thursday, as Alina Varga fired a four-hit shutout to lift the fourth-seeded Blue Devils to an impressive 2-0 win over the top-seeded and host Sharks of LIU in the opening game of the 2025 Northeast Conference Softball Championship in Brooklyn, New York. With the victory, Central is now 20-28 on the season, and LIU slips into the Losers' Bracket of the tournament with a 24-21 mark.
NEC CHAMPIONSHIP DAY ONE vs. LIU| BOX SCORE
Score: CCSU 2, LIU 0
Records: CCSU (20-28, 13-8 NEC), LIU (24-21, 16-5 NEC)
Location: LIU Softball Complex|Brooklyn, N.Y.
KEY MOMENTS FROM THURSDAY'S NEC TOURNAMENT OPENING WIN:
- With the game scoreless heading into the top of third inning, senior Abby Meehan launched the first home run of her CCSU career to left center to give the visitors a 1-0 lead which they never relinquished.
- Senior Kassandra (KC) Machado gave her team some breathing room in the top of the sixth inning with an RBI-double that scored Adriana Manory, who had reentered the game as a runner for Joslyn Teal, who reached base via a walk, to give the Blue Devils a 2-0 advantage. Machado leads Central with 35 runs batted in so far this season.
- Senior Alina Varga (7-14) would make those two runs stand up, as she fired a four-hit shutout against the NEC regular season champions; her second shutout of the 2025 season. Varga was in complete control all game long, as she fanned one batter and issued three walks. She was only in hot water once during the contest when she escaped a fourth inning jam that saw the Sharks put runners at the corners with only one out. Varga did not allow a run finishing off the inning with her lone strikeout of the day and a groundout.
- CCSU win on Thursday marks the first time since 2013 that the Blue Devils have defeated the top seed in the conference tournament.
UP NEXT:
- After taking Friday off due to expected inclement weather in the area, the Blue Devils will take on second-seeded St. Francis (Pa.) University in the 2025 NEC Championship Tournament's Winners' Bracket at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday at LIU in Brooklyn. St. Francis defeated third-seeded FDU, 10-2 in five innings, on Thursday.
