LOUDONVILLE, NY – Looking to begin a six-game home stand on a positive note, Siena Softball used the second game of a non-conference mid-week doubleheader against Hartford to earn their fourth win over the last five games. After falling 11-0 in five innings during game one, the Saints came back to earn a series split with the Hawks, with an 8-3 victory to cap the day.
Game One – Hartford 11, Siena 0 (5)
Playing for the second time this season after the Hawks took a 7-5 victory while hosting the Nor'Easter Classic on March 24, the visitors took off immediately, beginning three straight frames of runs with a two-run home run to left field in the top of the first. The top of the following frame brought in three more runs off RBI singles for the Hawks, while five more pushed across to make it a 10-0 game after three innings. An RBI ground out and an RBI single were followed by a bases clearing triple that allowed the runner to score from third herself on a fielding error.
Stranding seven total batters on base in five innings, the Saints could not push a runner past third in the affair, while one more Hartford run came in in the form of an RBI single to right center in the top of the fifth. Junior right-hander Brooke Hughes (5-8) took the loss for the Green and Gold, surrendering 10 runs on as many hits and striking out two in 2.2 innings, while freshman reliever Sarah Dowalo fanned three batters in the final 2.1 innings in the circle.
Game Two – Siena 8, Hartford 3
Despite being shutout for the first time in just over a calendar year, Siena (13-17, 5-3) bounced back to start the next outing, hanging with Hartford through three back-and-forth innings to start. After the Hawks took a 1-0 lead to start off a sacrifice fly, junior right-hander Maddie McMahon and the Saints' defense shutdown Hartford (16-23) in order in the top of the second. This allowed senior Jessika Jaime and freshman Sabrina Vargas to bat in runs in the form of junior Patricia Kalesse and Jaime herself to give Siena a crooked number in the bottom of the frame.
Hartford would then come out and do the same in the top of the third, using a one-out double and coupling a stolen base and a throwing error together to come out of the inning with the lead back in their possession, this time at 3-2. Just two days after nothing her first-career home run cap a 3-RBI contest, sophomore Neysa Ouellette used a sacrifice fly to allow junior Lauren Sabihon to score from third and tie it up at three after as many innings. MaMahon would then use a pair of strikeouts to help retire the side in order to start the fourth, and the lead would move permanently to the Saints in the bottom of the inning, thanks to an RBI single from freshman Yamila Evans that send in Kalesse for a second time.
As the game moved along, insurance runs piled on for the Green and Gold in the bottom of the sixth in the form of a pair of back-to-back home runs. After a pair of singles landed Jaime and Evans on the base paths, senior Madysen Cossack rocketed a three-run big-fly over the center field fence for her team-leading sixth of the season. Sabihon then followed suit in the next at-bat for her third of the year, marking the second time in three games that the pair sent balls long in consecutive at-bats. MaMahon (6-6) recorded her fifth complete game performance of the season, allowing just three hits and striking out eight Hartford batters.
Following the team's fourth doubleheader split in their last five Series, Siena will gear up for a pair of MAAC home doubleheaders this weekend. The Saints welcome in Fairfield for a rematch of a previously scheduled affair Friday at 12 PM and 2 PM, before hosting Canisius the following day at the same time.
