Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 ORANGEBURG, N.Y. – A tiebreaking 10th-inning home run by local product Nicole Spiegelberg (Blauvelt, N.Y.) helped Felician University outlast host Dominican (N.Y.) College, 10-8, in Game 1 of the teams' Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference softball doubleheader on Thursday afternoon at the Orangetown Little League Complex. Dominican erased an early deficit to claim Game 2, 6-5.
The teams needed nearly 5 ½ hours to complete the pair of games. The opener was two hours, 50 minutes in duration. Spiegelberg, a graduate first baseman who attended nearby Tappan Zee High School, was 4 for 6 with four runs batted in for the day.
A two-run single by Sam Melendez (Levittown, N.Y.) in the top of the second inning gave Felician (2-10, 2-4) a 3-0 lead in Game 1. The Golden Falcons stretched to a 6-0 edge in the fourth but Dominican struck back with three runs in the home half. The Chargers scored twice more, but left the bases loaded in the fifth, then took the lead with a three-run sixth
Felician freshman shortstop Mia Martinez (Bronx, N.Y.) hit a game-tying two-run home run in the seventh. Golden Falcon starting pitcher Martarina Crumb (Branchville, N.J.), who had worked the first four frames, re-entered to start the seventh. She induced a groundout to escape a bases-loaded two-out jam. When neither team scored in the eighth, the international tiebreaker was enacted for the ninth.
Felician's designated runner in the ninth never left second base. Dominican bunted their runner to third where she was picked off. In the 10th, the Golden Falcons sacrificed the runner to third and Spiegelberg followed with a shot to straightaway center field. Crumb issued two walks in the bottom of the 10th but a long flyout ended the game.
Crumb (2-4) worked eight total innings, giving up three runs on five hits. Spiegelberg and Martinez had three hits each. Jenna O'Reilly (Suffern, N.Y.) was 3 for 4 and Madison Walker (Southampton, N.J.) hit a pinch-hit home run for Dominican (3-7, 3-1).
Dominican fought back from a 4-0 Game 2 deficit and this time made the comeback stand up. The Chargers scored a run in the third and three in the fourth to even the score. The Golden Falcons went back on top, 5-4, on the first collegiate home run by freshman second baseman Alexis Velotta (Menifee, Calif.) with two outs in the sixth.
Dominican's Alyssa Schwalb (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) doubled to start the sixth, and her team scored two runs to re-take the lead without obtaining another hit. The Chargers used a wild pitch, a fielder's choice grounder, two walks, two steals, and a sacrifice fly. Charger pitcher Journey Limardo (2-1) (Anaheim, Calif.) worked around a one-out Daisha Howard (Westbury, N.Y.) double in the seventh to earn a complete-game victory.
Velotta was 3 for 4 and Melendez picked up two hits. Third baseman Halyee Redmond Ridge (Bellflower, Calif.) was 3 for 3 for the Chargers.
Felician hosts Wilmington (Del.) University in CACC action on Saturday at noon in Lyndhurst, N.J.
