Setters, Softball split series with comeback wins

SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - Both teams won a game they ought to have lost, and lost a game they ought to have won, as the American International College softball team fell 8-6 to Pace University and then walked off as 7-6 winners in a Northeast-10 Conference doubleheader on Saturday, April 6.

AIC is now 9-9 overall and 3-3 in the NE10.

The teams traded runs in the first inning; the Setters struck with a walk and two singles, but Destiny McGrath crushed her second home run of the year to left to tie the contest.

Pace scored once in the third on a home run, and once in the fourth with an RBI double. However, AIC anwered in the home half, as McGrath led off with another tee shot to left, and then Kodi Gora doubled, scoring on a Samantha Sanchez single. Sanchez ultimately came home on a throwing error at third, putting AIC up 4-3.

The Yellow Jackets tacked on two more in the sixth in a big way as rookie Brooklyn Cividanes hit her second of the year to left-center with Gora having reached on a hit and advanced on an error. That put AIC up 6-3 heading to the seventh, but a lengthy rally by Pace netted five, all with two outs, in that final frame. The Yellow Jackets were left stunned on the wrong end of an 8-6 score.

Having swiped the first game right out of AIC's hands, Pace scored three in the first and two in the third in game two for a 5-0 lead. Gora blasted her team-high fourth of the year to left in the bottom of the third, but the Setters counteracted it with a run in the next half inning for a 6-1 lead. 

AIC's prospects seemed bleak, but the Yellow Jackets again were determined to buck the odds. Brianna Harzula walked and Jilien Ayala was hit by a pitch to put two on. Abigail Wells smacked a single to left, which would have loaded the bases, but the Pace left fielder misplayed the ball, which allowed both Harzula and Ayala to score and moved Wells to third. A sacrifice fly by Taylor Murphy brought Wells in, cutting the gap to 6-4.

In the seventh, AIC still trailed by two, but had the top of the order up. Wells led off with a hit to center, and McGrath followed with a low liner that the third baseman could only knock down, putting the tying run at first. Murphy smacked a single up the middle to pack the bases for Gora, who drilled an 0-1 pitch down the left field line, but foul by inches. The senior dug in and battled, ultimately drawing ball four on the 11th pitch of the plate appearance to force in Wells. Sanchez then stepped in, and she hit the ball on the fair side of the line in the left-field corner, scoring McGrath to tie and Murphy to win the game.

Julia Krijgsman went the distance and picked up the win, allowing six runs on 10 hits.

AIC faces another New York opponent in Adelphi University on Sunday, April 7 at 1:00 p.m. for an NE10 doubleheader.