WEST POINT, N.Y. (4/19/09) – The Colgate softball team (23-12, PL 11-5) earned a split of its weekend four-game Patriot League series against Army with a 13-2 mercy-rule win over the Cadets in the nightcap Sunday afternoon, after dropping the opener at the Army Softball Complex, 7-5.
The second place Raiders maintain their four-game lead over Army (20-29, PL 7-9) in the Patriot League standings with four games left in the regular season. Colgate, which has clinched a spot in the Patriot League Tournament, is two games behind league-leader Lehigh.
In the opener, Colgate jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Tiana Tyeskey (Granite Bay, CA) had a RBI double, scoring Calla Yee (Salinas, CA), who had reached on a fielders' choice. Tyeskey then scored on Amanda Eccleston's (Roseville, CA) single to left field.
Army rallied for three runs in the bottom of the first on Reanna Johnson's RBI single, and Alexis AuBuchon's two-run homer. Colgate tied the game in the second inning on a RBI double by Melissa Babb-Renta (Glenview, IL), before taking a 4-3 on Ashley Rowe's (Tampa, FL) led off homer in the fifth inning.
The Cadets rallied for four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning before Colgate closed out the scoring with a run in the seventh inning. Tyeskey led off with a triple, and came home on Eccleston's ground out.
Jesse McCarrick (Oak Hill, VA) started in the circle for the Raiders, before Lacy Ver Steeg (Elk Grove, CA) took over in the second inning. McCarrick came back to work a scoreless sixth inning.
In the nightcap, Colgate exploded for eight runs in the top of the first inning. Tyeskey had a two-run double, while Eccleston followed with a RBI single, Babb-Renta a RBI double, Meg Mylan (Upper Montclair, NJ) a RBI double, Brittany Hanrahan (Frankfort, IL) a two-run double, and Yee a RBI single.
The Raiders added four more runs in the second inning for a 12-0 lead. Erin Gomez (Lawrenceville, NJ) cracked a three-run homer, and Yee stroked a RBI single.
Army scored once in the second and third innings, before Colgate closed out the scoring on Tyeskey's RBI single in the fifth. The Raiders pounded the Cadets for 13 hits led by Yee with three singles, and two hits apiece by Tyeskey, Eccleston and Gomez.
Freshman Michelle Hollebeke (North Reading, MA) (8-4) was the winning pitcher, working five innings, allowing six hits, walking one and striking out one.
(Game #1 Boxscore)
(Game #2 Boxscore)
