Game 1 Game 2
EASTON, PA (5/1/2010) - Stephanie Hartquist (Homer, N.Y.) drove in four runs and Courtney O'Connell (Palm Harbor, Fla.) pitched her first collegiate complete shutout as Colgate blanked Lafayette 9-0 in the first game of a Patriot League softball doubleheader, Saturday at Metzgar Fields Complex. The Leopards earned a split with a 1-0 decision in the second game.
Colgate scored all nine runs in two innings. The Raiders opened scoring in the top of the third by crossing the plate three times. Melissa Babb-Renta (Glenview, Ill.) singled to bring home Natalie Siedhof (Canton, Pa.) from second to provide all Colgate would eventually need. With two outs, Hartquist drilled her 13th double of the year to plate both Babb-Renta and Alana Dyson (Grovetown, Ga.).
Leading 3-0, the Raiders strung together six hits in a six-run sixth. Nicole Siedhof (Canton, Pa) opened the inning with a lead-off double to right center. After Emmie Dolfi (Pleasant Valley, N.Y.) singled, Natalie Siedhof brought her sister home from third with a run-scoring single. Amanda Zranchev (Budd Lake, N.J.) drove in the second run of the frame with a single. After Dyson's grounder to second scored Natalie Siedhof, Hartquist ripped her second two-run double of the game to right field to increase the score to 8-0. Jennifer Ortega (Aberdeen, N.J.) provided the Raiders' final run with a single scoring Hartquist from second. The game was stopped after six innings due to the “eight run rule”.
O'Connell went the distance for her seventh consecutive start to improve to 7-5 overall. The freshman, who posted her second-consecutive Patriot League victory, scattered three hits and fanned one batter over six innings of work.
Colgate posted 10 hits in the game one victory – two each by Hartquist, Babb-Renta and Dolfi. Hartquist's two-hit effort gives her 54 on the season, which ranks tied for eighth on the Raiders' single-season charts. She is nine hits shy of breaking the single-season record. In addition, her four-RBI performance moved her into sixth on the single-season runs batted in list with 37.
Ali Henry silenced Colgate's bats in the second contest of the day with a complete game two-hitter. Ortega and Nicole Siedhof were the lone two Raiders to reach base via a hit.
The Leopards, now 15-32 overall and 4-15 in league play, scored the game's lone run with one out in the bottom of the sixth as Stacey Kushner belted a solo homer down the right field line off Colgate starter Lacy Ver Steeg (Elk Grove, Calif.). The junior, who fell to 0-4 on the season, pitched a complete-game seven-hitter.
Colgate got the lead-off batter on in the top of the seventh on base via a walk. With a runner on second and two outs, Lafayette elected to put the potential go ahead run on base with an intentional walk to Ortega. Henry then got Nicole Siedhof to fly out to left to end the game.
The Raiders, now 23-19 overall and 6-10 in league action, will close out the four-game set in Easton versus Lafayette Sunday with another doubleheader. Game time is set for a noon start.
