University of Connecticut Athletics
Softball Downs Pittsburgh, Loses to Syracuse
3/26/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (March 26, 2007) -- A three-run home run by Danielle Del Ponte in the bottom of the sixth inning lifted the University of Connecticut softball team to a 5-2 victory over Pittsburgh on Monday afternoon and a split in an unorthodox doubleheader that also saw UConn drop a 6-4 decision to Syracuse earlier in the day. Both games were played at Providence College’s Raymond Field due to poor field conditions in Storrs.
With the split, UConn now stands at 11-9 on the year overall and 1-2 in BIG EAST action. The Panthers dip to 13-18 and 2-1 in league action while the Orange upped its mark to 10-20 overall and 3-1 on its young conference docket.
Del Ponte helped lead UConn at the plate by going a combined 4-for-5 on the day with three RBI while Micah Truax homered for the Huskies in each contest.
The Pittsburgh game could not possibly have started better for the Huskies who retired the Panthers in order in the top half of the first and then took a 1-0 lead after seeing just one pitch in the home half of the opening frame. Holly Calcagno led off and ripped the first offering she saw from Kayla Zinger deep to left. Morgan Howard leapt in an effort to keep the wind-blown ball from clearing the outfield fence but her effort was in vain as it bounced off of her glove and out of the park for a leadoff home run.
The game went scoreless for four more innings but the Panthers pushed across single runs in both the fifth and six innings to take a 2-1 lead. Pitt scored in the fifth on a line drive shot over the fence in left by Valerie Mihalik for a solo home run. In the sixth, Jessica Dignon drew a one-out walk, advanced to third on a single by Samantha Card and came home to score on an RBI single to left by Joey Scarf. The Huskies dodged a bullet on the Scarf single though as leftfielder Meghan Tierney sent a perfect throw to Del Ponte at the plate who tagged out Card in her attempt to score, keeping the UConn deficit at 2-1 going to the bottom of the sixth.
In the sixth, with one out, Jillian Ortega sent a shot into the left center field gap for a double. Facing a 1-1 count on Allie Gendron, Zinger was lifted in favor of Kaitlyn Shuster. Gendron went on to draw a walk which Del Ponte followed by sending the first pitch she saw over the fence in left for a three run homer to put the Huskies up 4-2. Four pitches later, Truax sent a shot hurdling over the wall in right field for a set of back-to-back shots that put UConn on top 5-2. The Huskies kept on pushing, loading up the bases with two outs against Laura Belardinelli, the third Panther pitcher of the frame, but Calcagno would ground to second to end the rally.
Tricia Sullivan came on in relief of starter Krista Michalczyk and pitched a perfect inning of relief, including a pair of strikeouts, to earn her first save. Michalczyk picked up her seventh win of the year against three losses by throwing six innings and yielding a pair of runs on six hits with a pair of strikeouts. Shuster took the loss for Pitt.
The outcome of the day’s first game was not as favorable for the Huskies who saw Syracuse score three runs in a decisive seventh inning to claim a 6-4 victory and sweep the two contests between the sides this weekend when coupled with a 9-8 extra innings thriller on Sunday afternoon.
Just like they later would against Pitt, UConn tallied in the bottom of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. UConn loaded the bases on two-out singles by Gendron and Del Ponte along with a walk drawn by Truax. Katie Dombrowski sent a single through to left field to plate Gendron but, after a perfect throw home by Ev Anderson, Del Ponte was cut down at the plate attempting to score what would have been UConn’s second run.
The Orange got on the board, and took the lead, with a pair of runs in the third, both crossing the plate on a two-run homer to center by Heather Kim. SU extended its lead to 3-1 in their half of the sixth when an RBI single chopped up the middle by pitcher Chanel Roehner brought home Kim.
Gendron opened the UConn sixth with a single to center and Del Ponte followed with a seeing-eye single through the right side of the Orange infield. Truax followed with a three-run home run, an opposite-field rocket through a stiff wind than managed to sneak over the right field fence and put UConn back on top at 4-3.
The lead would not hold though as the Orange plated three runs in their final at bat. Tonye McCorkle tied the game on her ground single up the middle and Kim provided the winning margin with a two RBI double off of the fence in right center. UConn had an opportunity to score in the bottom of the seventh when the bases were loaded with two outs but Dombrowski lined back to the pitcher to end the game.
Sullivan went the distance for UConn, allowing six runs, five of them earned, on 10 hits with four strikeouts against no walks. Roehner earned the win for SU by allowing four runs, three earned, in her six innings of work while yielding eight hits and three walks with a pair of strikeouts. Brittany Gardner allowed a hit and walk in the seventh after inheriting one runner, but kept the Huskies at bay to earn her third save.
The Huskies will return to action on Thursday when they travel to Quinnipiac.
