CANTON, N.Y. – Now 11-8 after splitting with the St. Lawrence Saints, the Plattsburgh State softball team is finding its footing after being routinely interrupted by the notorious spring weather in the North Country. The Cardinals won the first game of the doubleheader, 5-3, and then fell in the second, 3-6.
Catcher Erin Florkiewicz had a huge day at the plate for the Cardinals, going 4-for-5 with two doubles, three runs batted in and one walk. She also led the team with 11 putouts. Ashley Napear went 3-for-6, contributing two runs and double to the mix. She was second on the team with nine putouts at first and Nicole Diemer recorded four assists from shortstop.
Freshman hurler Ashley Marshall improved her record to 7-2 after throwing a complete game in the first contest. Marshall allowed seven hits, sat down seven batters, walked three and was credited with three earned runs.
Plattsburgh plated three of its five runs in the top of the first inning. The first two came when Napear and Danielle Gjergji scored on a double to centerfield by Amy Woo. Woo then scored directly afterward when Florkiewicz hit a single to left.
Woo tripled in the third inning to drive in Gjergji for the Cardinals fourth run of the day and then crossed the plate for a second time for the team's fifth and final run after Dana Mandery laid down a sacrifice bunt to the Saints' first baseman. St. Lawrence rallied back in the bottom of the seventh with three runs, but came up short.
In game two, it was St. Lawrence who scored first in the bottom of the second inning and did not hear a reply from Plattsburgh until the top of the fourth when the Cardinals took a short-lived 3-1 lead. Woo reached on an error by the first baseman that also allowed Gjergji to cross the plate and then Florkiewicz smashed a double to drive in Woo and Napear.
St. Lawrence tied things up in the bottom of the inning and then took the lead with two more runs in the bottom of the fifth. The game was all but won when Molly Swan crushed a solo shot over the left field fence in the bottom of the sixth for the Saints. Florkiewicz hit another double to start off the seventh, trying to entice a Cardinal rally, but the next two batters flew out and the last struck out to end the game.
Next up, Plattsburgh makes a trip out west this weekend to take on State University of New York Athletic Conference foes Fredonia and Buffalo State in doubleheader match-ups. The Cardinals face the Blue Devils at 3 p.m. on Friday and then move on to the Bengals at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
