Brockport Eagles softball team earns SUNYAC playoff bid

Beginning Wednesday, April 25, the Brockport softball team went .500 and clinched a spot in the playoffs. The squad won three of its six games, splitting each of its three doubleheaders. Wins came against University of Rochester, SUNY Fredonia and Buffalo State with final scores of 1-0, 12-7 and 8-0, respectively.

In the first of the Eagles’ three doubleheaders, Brockport took the field against the University of Rochester. In game two, senior pitcher Jeanie Farrell stole the show Wednesday, April 25. She threw a 16-strikeout game against the Yellow Jackets. It tied the current school record, held by Stephanie Geer last season, and replaced Farrell’s personal best of 12 strikeouts — an achievement she reached in 2010.

Game one was different, however. Rochester jumped to an early five-run lead at the expense of sophomore pitcher Erin Fleming. The Yellow Jackets didn’t let up as the game matured either. U of R added five additional runs over the course of the third, fourth and fifth innings to put the Eagles away in five innings.

The only Brockport runs scored in game one were scored in the first inning by senior second baseman, Amy Nowak. Nowak drove in senior third baseman Liz Hochman and sophomore first baseman Emily Dumas on a two-run double.

Game two saw Farrell’s 16 strikeouts and the team’s first win of the week.

The lone run of the game came in the form of a Hochman sacrifice fly that scored junior shortstop Jenna Yates. Yates had reached base on a single to left center and advanced to third on a double by Dumas.

The Eagles produced another series for the record books Friday, April 27 as Dumas tied the Brockport single season home run record in the team’s second game against Fredonia.

Game one started out with a scoreless first inning, but Fleming gave up a run in the top of the second to open the flood gates. Senior catcher Meghan Power, responded for the Eagles by blasting a two-run single that scored Nowak and Hochman.

Fredonia replied with a run in the third, then piled on an additional six runs at the top of the fourth inning.  

Junior center fielder Caitlyn Rana, Yates and Dumas attempted to bring the Eagles back from the dead, but after scoring only two runs throughout the rest of the contest, the Eagles failed to come back and dropped the first game 8-4.

Game two was Dumas’ game, though. Fredonia brought over some momentum from game one by scoring four runs in the top of the first off Farrell. Farrell got some support in the bottom of the first as the team brought in three additional runs to help keep the Eagles in the game.

The first run was earned by Yates as she scored on a bases-loaded walk. Next, sophomore designated hitter Sarah Rosenbarker doubled to left center to score Hochman and Dumas.

The game really started tipping toward the Eagles as Dumas stepped up to the plate in the third and crushed her first of two home runs, tying the game at four apiece. Rana quickly gained second base off a steal following a blooper to shallow left that drove home sophomore catcher, Julie Arnold. Yate’s then scored senior left fielder, Jessica Stahl on a single up the middle before Dumas crushed her second homerun of the day.

Fredonia attempted to claw back in the top of the fifth by scoring three runs, but Nowak put a stop to this by adding a two-run home run bringing Brockport’s lead up to 12-7, a lead which would stay till the end of the contest.

This win marked Farrell’s 11th win of the year. She pitched seven straight innings and allowed only three runs.

The team’s final doubleheader of the week, starting on Saturday April 28, provided a very similar result as the Eagles dropped the first game and posted a “W” for the second one.

Game one saw the Eagles fall to a 4-0 deficit by the fifth inning when Fleming allowed a three-run home run after allowing only one run in the previous three innings.

Nowak led a late game charge as she doubled off of the left center wall to drive in Yates. Sophomore pinch-hitter Susanna Johnson made her first at-bat appearance in six games and laced a two-run single that scored Nowak and Hochman.

The Eagles dropped the game 6-3 since they stalled in the seventh inning despite great hitting in the previous innings.

Game two was also scoreless in the first three innings before the game was broken open by sophomore designated hitter Kayla Ladd.  Ladd cranked a three-run home run that started a rally that eventually led to a Mercy Rule finish in the fifth inning.

Additional runs were scored by freshman pinch-runner, Marissa Levia, Rana and two others. Levia was driven home by a home run to left center from Hochman and a double by Dumas scored Rana. The final points were chalked by Arnold who smacked a single up the middle to score the final two runs of the game and clinch the game two victory.