MADISON, N.J. – Despite two dominant pitching performances, the FDU-Florham softball team was defeated by the Misericordia University Cougars in game one of a Freedom Conference doubleheader, 3-0 and then 2-1 in game two on Saturday afternoon in Dallas, Pa.
Junior Sydney Worek (Bordentown, N.J.) got the start for the Devils (6-14, 4-6 Freedom) in game one against the Cougars (16-8, 9-1 Freedom) and she was lights out, striking out a season-high eight batters and only allowing one earned run in a stellar six innings. Unfortunately for Worek, the Cougars got a near flawless outing from their starter, Alissa Steier, who tossed seven shutout innings and only surrendered four hits.
The Cougars wasted no time getting on the board. In the bottom of the first, Melanie Quintanill shot a single up the middle and later came around to score once Sam Hare stepped up to the plate and rifled an RBI double to right center to give the Cougars an early 1-0 advantage.
Following the first inning score by the Cougars, both pitchers found their grove and cruised for several innings, shutting down their opponent's bats. However, in the bottom half of the sixth, the Cougars managed to get to Worek.
Kristi Seiler led off the inning and reached base safely on a Devils' error. Two batters later, Melissa Parker sent a double into left center and the Cougars then had runners on second and third with one out. Worek picked up the second out of the inning with a strikeout, but the very next batter, Andi Veneziale, knocked a double into left center to bring in the two runs and capture the 3-0 victory.
Sophomore Nikki Caruso (Madison, N.J.) was the lone Devils' bat that saw success at the plate in the contest, going 2-for-3 with a single and a double.
In game two, the ball was put in the hands of freshman Audrie Thomas (Belford, N.J.) and she pitched a strong six innings for the Devils, allowing two unearned runs and only two hits. However, once again the Cougars countered with another dominant performance on the mound from one of their pitchers. Maddie Stebich got the start for Misericordia and she went seven innings, allowing five hits and one run.
It was not until the fourth inning that a run crossed the plate for either team. Caruso sent a double into left center and she came around to score following a Wynne McCann (Boyertown, Pa.) RBI single into left field.
In the bottom half of the fourth, Thomas got the first two batters to ground out. The inning looked like it was coming to a close until the Devils committed an error and a runner reached base safely. The very next batter, Parker, took the Thomas pitch and sent it over the left field fence for a two-run home run to take a 2-1 lead.
The Devils managed to get a runner on base in each of the final three frames, but were unable to bring them around to score and went on to drop the second game of the doubleheader, 2-1.
FDU-Florham will travel to Hackettstown to take on the Centenary College Cyclones in a doubleheader on Tuesday, April 14, at 3 p.m.
