BOSTON – Colgate staved off elimination twice, defeating Lafayette 10-5 and Army 4-2, to advance to its first Patriot League championship round since 2011.Â
Colgate will take on top-seeded and tournament host Boston University at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning. The Raiders will have to defeat the Terriers twice to hoist the conference crown for the first time since 2007. Colgate will serve as the home team for the first game.Â
Nora Megenity went 6-for-9 with five RBIs, three runs scored, two doubles, and a home run on the day.
Analisa Raffaelli finished with three hits, including a double and a home run, while adding three RBIs and two runs scored.Â
Alexa Acker and
Maya Servedio earned the two wins in the circle, while
Kelcie McGraw locked down her fourth and fifth saves of the season.Â
Game 1 | Colgate 10, Lafayette 5
Lafayette capitalized on five walks and two hits to build an early cushion, using back-to-back RBI singles from Jessica Tejera and Olivia Catalina to jump out to a 4-0 lead. Acker relieved Servedio in the opening frame and prevented further damage.
The Raiders' offense ignited in the third, sparked once again by Megenity. The junior crushed a three-run homer to right-center – her 22nd of the year – before Marina Taveras laced an RBI single up the middle to knot the score at 4-4.
Colgate seized its first lead in the fourth. Megenity delivered her fourth RBI of the afternoon with a single through the right side, followed immediately by a two-run moonshot from Raffaelli to push the advantage to 7-4.
After Lafayette trimmed the deficit to two in the bottom half of the inning, McGraw took over in the circle, inducing a pair of flyouts to strand the tying run.
Megenity and Raffaelli capped their dominant days in the seventh, producing back-to-back RBI singles in a three-run insurance frame. Taveras added a sacrifice fly to extend the cushion to 10-5 before McGraw retired the side in order in the bottom of the seventh to slam the door.
Megenity was 4-for-5 with five RBIs to lead Colgate's offense. Raffaelli had three hits and three RBIs, Taveras drove in two runs, and Mia Cascio and Mackenzie Lewis each scored twice. Colgate racked up 12 hits in the five-run victory.
In the circle, Acker earned the win after conceding just one run on four hits with two strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings of relief. McGraw struck out three and allowed two hits in 3 2/3 innings to earn her fourth save of the campaign.Â
Game 2 | Colgate 4, Army 2
Colgate jumped out to an early lead, ignited by Lily Haluska's solo home run in the top of the second. The Raiders doubled their advantage later in the frame when Tealla Rivera singled up the middle and eventually crossed the plate on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.
Servedio provided a strong start, spinning 4 1/3 scoreless innings before running into trouble in the fifth. McGraw entered in relief and once again stifled the Army threat, inducing a pair of flyouts to strand a runner and preserve the two-run cushion.
The Raiders added two crucial insurance runs in the sixth. Taveras sparked the rally by scoring on a wild pitch before Acker drove in Kayla Martin with a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 4-0.
Army managed to break the shutout in the seventh, but the Raiders' defense stifled the comeback. Raffaelli anchored a game-ending 6-3 double play to secure the victory and send Colgate to its first Patriot League Championship appearance since 2011.
UP NEXT
Colgate's Patriot League championship run continues on Saturday when the Raiders face top-seeded Boston University in the title round. First pitch is set for 10 a.m. on ESPN+.Â
