KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The Plattsburgh State softball team split a pair of contests for the second day in a row, defeating Farmingdale State College, 9-2, before falling to No. 9 Rowan University, 2-0, on Saturday during the Rebel Spring Games.
Plattsburgh State moves to 2-2 overall with the results and next faces Skidmore College (1:30 p.m.) and William Paterson University (3:45 p.m.) tomorrow. Farmingdale State drops to 0-1 with the loss, while Rowan rises to 7-0 with the win.
Game 1: Plattsburgh State 9, Farmingdale State 2
The Cardinals used a six-run third to push past Farmingdale State in the first game of the day.
Four Plattsburgh State batters notched multiple hits: sophomore shortstop
Kaitlyn Preiss (Cornwall, N.Y./Cornwall) went 3-for-4, while junior designated player
Amanda Tantillo (Florida, N.Y./S.S. Seward), freshman third baseman
Taylor Fischer (Cottekill, N.Y./Rondout Valley) and junior catcher
Jackie Decker (Adams, N.Y./South Jefferson) each went 2-for-4. Notably, all nine of the Cardinals' hits were singles.
Freshman pitcher
Rhea Pitkin (Dexter, N.Y./General Brown) picked up the win in the circle, yielding just one unearned run on two hits and four walks while striking out 14 batters over 5 1/3 innings pitched.
Game 2: No. 9 Rowan 2, Plattsburgh State 0
Plattsburgh State went toe-to-toe with Rowan, one of the top teams in NCAA Division III, but the Profs plated a run in the third and seventh innings to escape with the win.
Rowan's junior designated player Morgan Smith doubled down the left-field line in the third to plate the first run of the game, and in the top of the seventh, she scratched across another run with a single through the right side. Smith helped lead the Profs with a 3-for-4 outing at the plate, while sophomore center fielder Gianna Genello also went 3-for-4.
Preiss' infield single in the bottom of the seventh spoiled a perfect game for Rowan's freshman pitcher Jesse DeDomenico, who struck out eight batters in a complete-game effort. Junior pitcher
Katie Pitkin (Dexter, N.Y./General Brown) also went the distance, shouldering the loss despite allowing just two runs on 10 hits, three walks and a hit by pitch while striking out two.