Skidmore College Athletics

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Junior Sophia Finch and first-year Lulu Mickle both hit a pair of homers to help lead the Skidmore College softball team to a Liberty League sweep at home against Clarkson. Skidmore walked off the first game, 9-8, after trailing by two entering the bottom of the seventh inning. Then, Skidmore won the second game 12-7 to complete the sweep.

• Skidmore (19-15, 6-6 Liberty League) has not yet officially clinched a postseason spot, but can as soon as Sunday afternoon barring other events.
• Mickle homered to tie the first game at 8 and then hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning of the game-two win. She had six RBI across the two games.
• Finch hit three-run bombs in both the first and fourth innings of the nightcap. She ended the day with nine RBI.

 
Game 1 – Skidmore 9, Clarkson 8

• The Thoroughbreds faced deficits of 6-3 in the fifth and 8-6 in the seventh. Mickle's bomb to center tied it up after leadoff hitter Sam Waters singled to lead off. Then, Natalie Mayne singled, went to second on a finch sacrifice bunt, and to third on a Rachel Monser fly ball to center field. She scored on a wild pitch to walk it off.
• Skidmore managed just one run over the first three innings, but took the lead in the fourth on a Nate' Burley bunt single that scored a run and a Cortney Somsky RBI ground out.
• The visitors then rallied for four in the fifth, including a two-run Maddie Throumoulos home run, to take a 6-3 lead.
• In the Skidmore half of the fifth, an error extended the inning before Finch brought in a pair with a double to the left-center field gap. She then scored when Monser hit a double to center to tie it up at six.
• Isabel Haspil gave the Golden Knights the lead back with a two-run bomb in the seventh, but it could have been worse as Skidmore centerfielder Elle Harrison made a great leaping catch at the wall for the second out.
• The top-five hitters in the Skidmore lineup scored each of the nine runs. Finch finished 2-for-2 with two runs and three RBI. Monser and Burley both had two hits including a double.
• Waters was 2-for-4 with three runs scored and three stolen bases.
• Shayne Cleeve got the win in relief for Skidmore. She pitched a 1-2-3 sixth before surrendering the home run in the seventh, but stranding a pair to keep it a two-run contest.

 
Game 2 – Skidmore 12, Clarkson 7

• Skidmore scored in four out of the first five innings, featuring three in the first on the Finch homer, and then four in both the fourth and fifth.
• Clarkson put together five hits, all singles, in the first to take a quick 3-0 lead.
• The Thoroughbreds took the lead with a single run in the second when Maybne helped herself with a two-out RBI single.
• Clarkson tied it at four in the third, but Finch's second three-run bomb of the game in the fourth made it 8-4.
• Emily Martin hit a two-RBI triple in the next inning for the visitors and scored to quickly make it a one-run game.
• Skidmore scored the game's final four runs, all on home runs, featuring Mickle's second homer of the day in the fifth, and a Cortney Somsky solo shot, for the 12-7 final.
• Mayne got her sixth win of the year in the circle for Skidmore. She surrendered five earned runs on 11 hits in the complete-game effort with two walks and two strikeouts.
• Clarkson used five pitchers.
• Mickle and Finch both had three hits and accounted for a combined 10 out of the 12 RBI.
• Harrison reached all four times on a 2-for-2 game with two walked and thee runs scored.

 
UP NEXT
Skidmore will hit the road for St. Lawrence next week for a likely Liberty League Tournament play-in preview.