SARATOGA SPRING, N.Y. – The Castleton softball team dropped Game 1 of its doubleheader against Skidmore 3-1 Friday afternoon before bouncing back with a 13-6 Game 2 win to split the team's first true road games of the season.
Castleton 1, Skidmore 3
The Spartans (3-3) struggled to get much going in the day's opening game, getting just two hits and scoring one run in the loss.
Olivia Joy made her second start in the circle, allowing three runs and fanning four across five innings of work.
It was the Thoroughbreds (2-7) breaking the scoreless tie in the bottom of the third on an RBI double to take the 1-0 lead. Castleton responded in the fifth on
Jess Heinrichs' third RBI of the season tying the game at one, but a pair of runs by Skidmore in the bottom half of the frame put the Spartans behind once again en route to the low-scoring, 3-1 loss.
Castleton 13, Skidmore 6
Whereas hits were hard to come by in Game 1, Castleton could not be contained in Friday's rematch, hitting five homers — the program's most since 2011 — in the 13-6 victory.
Miranda Fish,
Kayla Fac,
Hannah Mosher, and
Alexandra Brouillette all went yard, while
Katie Gallagher earned her first win of the season in the circle, tossing three and a third scoreless innings in relief.
The Thoroughbreds jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one before the Spartans began their offensive onslaught in the top of the third.
Kate LaPan got things started with a walk before an error put a second runner on base in
Alexis Rogers. With two outs,
Allison Almond hit a single through the left side to score LaPan and move Rogers over to third. Fish was up to bat next, crushing her first career homerun to left field to give Castleton a 4-3 lead.
Castleton added a run in the top of the fourth on Fac's first bomb of the year, but a three-run bottom of the inning briefly giving Skidmore back a 6-5 advantage. Wasting no time in taking that lead back, however, were the Spartans, who capitalized on five runs in the fifth to go back up four.
Rogers singled as the lead-off hitter, setting up Mosher for her first homer of the day to make it 7-6. Now riding momentum, RBIs from Brouillette — who finished with a game-high three in the game — and Fac made it a 10-6 game. Long balls from Castleton's Mosher and Brouillette put the Spartans up 13-6 before Gallagher closed things out in the seventh to clinch the win.
Castleton returns to the field Tuesday, March 28 when they host SUNY Canton in their home-opener, with Game 1 set for 3 p.m.
