Softball Falls 3-1 To Wagner; Will Face Le Moyne Friday

The Central Connecticut State softball team opened NEC Tournament play Thursday, falling 3-1 to third-seeded Wagner at the LIU Softball Complex in Brooklyn, NY. The Blue Devils will play Le Moyne in an elimination game on Friday. 

The Blue Devils scored first, plating a run on a bases loaded walk in the first inning but were unable to take further advantage. The Seahawks scored a single run in each of its last three at-bats, two of them unearned to rally from the 1-0 deficit. Wagner pitching retired 12 straight batters after a Skylar Warn leadoff double to open the fourth inning. 

Stella Gasper provided the big blow with her first career homerun, a sixth inning grand slam. 

GAME INFORMATION | BOX SCORE 
Score: Wagner 3, CCSU 1 
Pitching Record: W: Lotus (9-11) | L: Hamilton (15-7) | Save - - 
Records: CCSU (26-18, 20-4 NEC), Le Moyne (20-26, 14-10 NEC) 
Location: LIU Softball Complex | Brooklyn, NY 

KEY MOMENTS  

• Geanice Morales worked a leadoff walk to open the game, and a runner was still on first with two out when Sydnie Trujillo launched a ball to left field that Sophia LoPiccolo made a diving catch to end the inning 

• Ava Cino was seemingly retired on consecutive pitches, but both were deemed illegal and led to her being issued a two-out walk. Grace Lawton followed with a single and Stella Gasper was hit by a pitch to load the bases. The fourth illegal pitch of the inning provided a walk to Joslyn Teal to force Cino in for the first run of the game. 

• LoPiccolo led off the bottom of the second with a walk and advanced to third on back-to-back sacrifice bunts, but was stranded there 

• Stella Gasper missed a homerun by inches in the bottom of the third and a line drive from Teal was stabbed by Payton Janicki to strand Gasper on first base 

• Back-to-back hits from Trujillo and Janicki snapped a streak of 11-straight batters and got Wagner a runner into scoring position for the first time. After a foul ball, Hamilton induced a fielder's choice groundout to third from Leilani Gonzales to end the threat and keep Wagner off the board 

• Skylar Warn led off the bottom of the fourth with a double to right center field, but the runner was stranded there 

• Wagner scored an unearned run in the top of the fifth when Lilly Banse scored following a single and a throwing error 

• Lea Rachal led off the sixth with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. She came around to score on a single from Trujillo in the next at-bat to give Wagner its first lead of the game. Wagner had runners first and second with one out when Skylar Warn made a diving snag of a low line drive off the bat of Addison Day and turned it into an inning ending double play. 

• Wagner added an unearend run in the seventh with Grityn Buchanan reaching on a leadoff error and scoring on an infield single by Alayna Giampolo. Ashlyn Desaulniers makes a great catch and throw to double up the Seahawks to end the inning. 

NOTES 

• Liz Hamilton took the loss allowing one earned run on six hits, while fanning four in a complete game effort 

• Lotus was perfect in her three innings in the circle for Wagner, with three strikeouts to earn the victory in relief of Karson Zavala 

• Only four Wagner batters recorded a hit on Thursday, with two apiece from Trujillo and Morales 

• Grace Lawton and Warn had the Blue Devils base hits in the contest 

• The Blue Devils stranded six runners during the game, while Wagner stranded five  

UP NEXT 

• The Blue Devils will play Le Moyne at 1:00 pm on Friday and need to win four straight games to capture the NEC Championship