SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Clutch hitting by the Skidmore College softball team kept them alive in the Liberty League postseason race, as the Thoroughbreds were able to get past Clarkson in a doubleheader sweep, in league action at Wagner Park on Saturday. Skidmore took game one 1-0, then won 5-3 to complete the sweep.
Skidmore (17-19, 4-8 Liberty League) snapped a seven-game losing streak with the wins, and needs to sweep Union and hope for a St. Lawrence split against Clarkson or a Clarkson sweep to earn its fifth Liberty League postseason berth in a row. Clarkson falls to 7-24-1 overall and 2-10 in league.
Skidmore honored its four seniors in the home finale:
Lizette Roman-Johnston,
Jill Strileckis,
Kristina Foley, and
Amanda Carilli.
Carilli would make history in game one, getting her 48
th victory of her career, standing alone as Skidmore's all-time winningest pitcher. It wasn't easy, as Carilli and her counterpart, Clarkson's Sam Mennig were locked into a pitcher's duel. With both teams needing a win to stay alive in the postseason race, the defenses played strong, getting out of jams in the third and fifth innings. In the sixth,
Emily Popp led off with a single, then
Hannah Paolucci brought Popp to third with a one-out double to left center. With
Drew Bugna replacing Popp as the pitch runner, Strileckis hit a sac fly to center field, with Bugna tagging up to score from third, breaking the deadlock. In the top of the seventh, Clarkson led off with a single to second field, but with one out,
Karly Fishkin put the game away with a leaping grab at second base, then throwing out the aggressive runner at first base for a game-ending double play.
Carilli (13-11) struck out three in the shutout, needing only 72 pitches to pick up the win. Popp, Paolucci,
Heather Mak, and
Adrianna Garcia would tally Skidmore's four hits. Mennig (3-8) struck out five in the loss.
Game two saw Skidmore jump out to a 2-0 lead in the second. After Strileckis led off with a single, Roman-Johnston uncorked the first pitch she saw deep over the bullpen in right field for a two-run homer, her team-leading fourth of the year. Clarkson would come right back, with the first five batters reaching base in a three-run third, taking the 3-2 lead.
That lead would be short-lived, as Foley came through with a one-out RBI single through the right side, scoring Garcia from third to tie the game at three. That score remained the same until the bottom of the sixth, when Mak got on after a nine pitch at-bat with a one-out single. Two batters later, Fishkin jumped on a 3-2 pitch, coming through for the Thoroughbreds with a key two-run homer, as Skidmore took a 5-3 lead.
That was all Carilli (14-11) needed, as she retired the side in order to complete the sweep. She would go the distance, striking out a batter over seven innings. Skidmore would tally 12 hits in the game two victory, led by a 3-for-4 performance from Garcia. Roman-Johnston and Popp would each go 2-for-4. Leah Allen (3-5) allowed five earned in six innings pitched for Clarkson, striking out five.
Skidmore will head to Union in the season finale in Schenectady, with game one beginning at 1 p.m.
