CLERMONT, Fla. – The Plattsburgh State softball team dropped two games in split doubleheader action at THE Spring Games on Tuesday, first galling to Wisconsin-River Falls 11-3 in six innings, and then to SUNY Brockport 5-3 in eight innings.
Junior
Megan Pillus (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Spackenkill) led the way for the Plattsburgh offense, finishing the day 5-7 with an RBI, a 2B, and a run scored. On the year, she is off to a fantastic start, hitting. 571 (8-14) across five games. First-year
Meghan Stork (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) had four hits across two games on Tuesday, driving in two runs.
The Cardinals fall to 1-4 with the pair of losses and have tomorrow off before taking on Amherst and Westminster College (Mo.) on Thursday, March 14. River Falls moves to 6-6, splitting their games on the day and play Chicago tomorrow, March 19 in their next game. Brockport moves to 2-4 on the year and next takes on Augsburg on March 19.
Game One: UW-River Falls 11, Plattsburgh 3 (6 innings)
Two big innings for River Falls led them to the 11-3 win a run-rule-shortened affair. The Cards took a 3-0 lead in the fourth, but the Falcons responded with six in the following half-inning and then walked the game off with five runs in the sixth.
Stork was 3-3 to lead the way for Plattsburgh, driving in two runs, while Pillus was 2-3 with a run scored and a double. Senior
Mikayla Manalo (Holtsville, N.Y./Sachem East) reached base twice, driving in a run with a single and walking once. Junior
Gwen Noll (Massapequa, N.Y./St. Anthony's) also reached base twice, with a single and walk, and scored one run.
Morgan Ormerod (Valatie, N.Y./Ichabod Crane) took the loss in the circle with 3.2 innings of work.
Caitlyn Kressell drove in four runs for River Falls, going 2-4 with a double, while Grace Gardner went 2-4 as well, with two RBI and two runs scored. Emily Crowe earned the win in the circle for the Falcons with 2.1 innings of scoreless relief.
After three scoreless innings to start the game, Plattsburgh State got a rally started in the fourth, with Pillus starting the inning with a one-out single. Back-to-back two walks loaded the bases and Manalo followed with an RBI single to left, putting the Cards ahead 1-0. After a pitching change, Stork followed with a single to right, scoring two runs and putting Plattsburgh ahead 3-0.
In the bottom of the fourth, River Falls responded with six runs on five hits, with the big blow coming from Gardner's two-run double that put the Falcons up 5-3. She came around to score in the next at-bat with an RBI single from Kressell.
After a scoreless fifth and a scoreless half-inning from Plattsburgh in the top of the sixth, a costly error to start the frame allowed five unearned runs to score. Kressell put her team up 9-3 with a three-run double, and a double scored her before Kayla Dolan ended the game with a walk-off single to enact the run rule and give the Falcons an 11-3 win.
Game Two: Brockport 5, Plattsburgh 3 (8 innings)
In game two, the Cardinal bats put up 12 hits, but the big hit eluded the team throughout the game, as they left 15 runners on base in the extra-inning loss to Brockport. Pillus was 3-4 for Plattsburgh with an RBI, while sophomore
Sara Isaacs (Malta, N.Y./Shenendehowa) was 2-5 with a double and an RBI as well.
Senior
Carly Gemmett (Colonie, N.Y./Colonie Central) went 7.1 innings for Plattsburgh State, allowing four earned runs while matching her career high with 13 strikeouts. Ormerord finished the game for Plattsburgh, recording two outs.
For Brockport, Olivia Simone was 2-3 with two RBI and Aubrey Ennis drove in two runs for the Golden Eagles as well. In the circle, Laina Beer picked up the win, working around 12 hits to give up just on earned run while striking out three. Colleen Davis got the final out of the game, earning the save.
After two-and-a-half scoreless innings to start the game, Plattsburgh put together a two-out rally as Isaacs doubled to left center, and first-year
Bella Toleman (Stillwater, N.Y./Stillwater) was hit in the next at-bat. Pillus had her at-bat prolonged by a dropped foul ball and made Brockport pay, singling up the middle to score Isaacs.
The 1-0 score held until the top of the sixth as both Gemmett and Beer were cruising along. In the sixth, Brockport took the lead as Simone tripled in a run and then came around to score on an Ennis sacrifice fly.
The Brockport lead was short-lived, as Noll drove in sophomore
Leila Toomey (Commack, N.Y./Commack) to tie the game. The Cards were unable to take the lead in the inning, however, stranding two runners on base.
A scoreless seventh sent the game into extras, and the Golden Eagles wasted no time taking the lead, as the runner placed on second stole third and came around to score on a bunt single to start the inning. A single followed to put runners on the corners, and a sacrifice fly followed by a single, put Brockport up 5-2.
The Cardinals did not go down without a fight, as they loaded the bases after an error to prolong the inning. Isaacs singled up the middle to score one run, putting the go-ahead run on a base, but Davis entered and induced a game-ending flyout to give her team the win.
