SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Skidmore College softball team continued its winning ways with a doubleheader sweep of Castleton, at Wagner Park Saturday afternoon. Skidmore won 4-2 in game one and 5-3 in game two.
 
Skidmore (11-7) has won seven of the last eight games since returning from Florida. Castleton's record stands at 1-9.
 
Castleton would jump out to a quick 1-0 lead in game one, only to see Skidmore answer with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first. Consecutive doubles by Emily Popp and Kristina Foley gave Skidmore the 2-1 lead.
 
The game settled into a pitching duel, as stellar play by both defenses and pitching by Skidmore's Amanda Carilli and Castleton's Taylor Paquette kept the teams off the board. That lasted until the fifth inning, when Skidmore took advantage of a Castleton error, with Maddie Nelson scoring to make it 3-1. Hannah Paolucci would then come up and score on the sacrifice, giving Skidmore a 4-1 advantage.
 
Castleton would get one back in the sixth off a sacrifice fly, but Popp would pitch a perfect seventh inning for her first save of the season.
 
Carilli (7-2) won her fifth straight decision, allowing one earned over six innings, scattering seven hits and striking out a batter. Skidmore only needed three hits for the win, as Lizette Roman-Johnston (1-for-2), Popp (1-for-3), and Kristina Foley (1-for-3) provided the offense.
 
Tori Swayne led Castleton with two hits. Paquette (1-6) took the loss, allowing three earned in six innings pitched, striking out three.
 
In game two, the Skidmore offense got started midway through the game, with a four-run third inning to open the game up. After Nicole Rosner walked and Roman-Johnston got on with a one-out double, Fishkin drove them in with a two-RBI single. Just two pitches later, Paolucci brought Fishkin home with a towering two-run homer into left field, her third of the season, doubling the score.
 
Castleton got a run on in the top of the fifth, but Skidmore responded with a run of their own on a two-out RBI single by Foley in the bottom of the frame.  The top of the sixth saw Tori Swayne answer for the Spartans with a one-out, two-run home run, cutting the Skidmore lead to 5-3. That was as close as they got, as Popp would get the last four outs to earn the save and clinch the sweep.
 
Carilli (8-2) would win her sixth straight decision and 43^rd of her Skidmore career, allowing no earned runs on five hits in 4.1 innings pitched, striking out four batters. Popp would collect her second save of the afternoon, striking out two in 2.2 innings.
 
Paolucci shook off a hitless game one with a dominant offensive display in game two, going 3-for-3 with a homer, triple, and single. She drove in two runs on the aforementioned home run. Fishkin would drive in two on a 1-for-3 performance, scoring two runs. Roman-Johnston went 2-for-3 with a double and a single. Rosner would walk twice, scoring a run.
 
Rachel McCormick (0-3) picked up the loss for Castleton, allowing four earned on five hits in four innings. She struck out two batters. Paquette pitched the final two innings allowing an unearned run over three hits.
 
Skidmore will wrap up the long homestand with a pair of contests against Williams, on Tuesday at 4 p.m.