MADEIRA BEACH, FL – Siena Softball suffered its first loss of the 2023 season Saturday afternoon, but did not end the day on a bad note. The Saints (7-1) dropped a 2-0 decision to ACC foe Notre Dame before taking a 5-3 victory over Dartmouth to continue weekend action at The Spring Games in Madeira Beach, Florida.
Notre Dame 2, Siena 0
The first-ever meeting between the Saints and the Fighting Irish featured a low-scoring affair with just six combined hits. Notre Dame came across on a throwing error in the second, and tacked on an insurance run with an RBI single down the third base line in the fifth. Siena stranded four runners on-base and were plagued by four errors defensively.
Senior Shannon Bonewit and freshman Emma Petersen came away with a hit apiece to lead the team offensively, while senior Nicole Patille (2-1) took her first loss of the year in the circle with both earned runs given up off three hits and one strikeout.
Siena 5, Dartmouth 3
The Green and Gold turned things around offensively in the nightcap with six hits and a late comeback victory after falling behind 3-0 after three innings. Dartmouth used the home half of the first to plate a pair of runs on RBI singles, and did so once more in the bottom of the third.
The Saints responded beginning in the fourth with five unanswered runs, with redshirt-junior Diana Parker plating junior Mikala Fletcher in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice fly to get things started. Working behind senior Allison Speshyock's first win of the season, Siena retired ten straight Dartmouth batters to pave the way for a crooked frame in the top of the seventh.
 Graduate student Sabrina Vargas singled to send in sophomore Emmalynn Skaff before graduate student Ava Fitzmaurice slammed a go-ahead three-run homer to center field to give her team the lead for good. The Greenville, New York product would then come in to pitch and pick up her first save of the year in the bottom of the frame. Vargas recorded a multi-hit game to lead the team offensively. Speshyock fanned three batters while allowing just one run on one hit over five innings during her time in the circle.
Siena's now-extended time at The Spring Games continues on Sunday, February 26, when it takes on Tennessee Martin at 10 am and FIU at 12:30 PM.