STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. (Apr. 30, 2022) – Powered by a team-high three RBI on the day from freshman Maddie Lula (Milford, Conn./Jonathan Law), the Mercy College softball team dropped a 5-4 decision to ECC foe College of Staten Island before earning a 6-5 victory in the nightcap on Saturday afternoon at the CSI Softball Complex.
The Mavericks (11-36, 9-15 ECC) snap a six-game losing streak with the game two win and have secured a berth into the ECC Championship for the second straight year. Mercy has earned the No. 4 seed and will play at No. 1 seed St. Thomas Aquinas on Wednesday, May 4th at a time to be announced. The Dolphins (12-24, 6-16 ECC) earn a split of the season series.
Game 1: Staten Island 5, Mercy 4
Staten Island took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on one hit and one Mercy error.
The score remained 2-0 until the top of the fifth when Mercy scored a run to make it 2-1. Sophomore Shannon Sisco (Cicero, N.Y./Mansfield University) walked with two outs and sophomore Alexandra Karavias (Westbury, N.Y./WT Clarke) followed with a double to right center that scored Sisco to make it 2-1.
The Dolphins increased the lead to 3-1 in the fifth inning with a run on three hits.
Mercy rallied with three runs in the seventh inning to take a 4-3 lead. Freshman Victoria Seppala (Abington, Mass./Abington) singled to lead off the inning and Lula doubled her home to make it 3-2. Karavias later tied the game at 3-3 after drawing a bases-loaded walk. Junior Hailey Puglia (Holtsville, N.Y./Assumption University) plated the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly to left field, giving Mercy a 4-3 lead.
Staten Island answered with two runs in the bottom of the seventh to earn a 5-4 walk-off win.
Karavias went 1-for-2 with two RBI and Lula went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Senior Alexis Crawford (Hemet, Calif./West Valley High) went 2-for-3 and Sisco went 1-for-3. Senior Ariana Ricci (Sacramento, Calif./Cosumnes Oaks) and Seppala both went 1-for-3 and junior Nicole Smart (Santa Clarita, Calif./Golden Valley) went 1-for-4. Junior Alexi Benson (Fredericksburg, Va./Riverbend) pitched 6.1 innings with two earned runs allowed and six strikeouts to take the loss.
Staten Island was led by Samantha MacPherson who went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Kelsey Strayer pitched an inning of relief to earn the win.
Mercy had eight hits and two errors and Staten Island had eight hits and two errors.
Game 2: Mercy 6, Staten Island 5
The Dolphins took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on two hits.
The score stayed 1-0 until the fourth inning when Mercy scored four runs to take a 4-1 lead. Senior Ylannah Bowman (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) led off the inning with a single and scored on a Ricci RBI single to make it 1-1. Lula then brought home Smart with an RBI single to give Mercy a 2-1 lead. Karavias brought in the third run on a bases-loaded walk to make it 3-1 and junior Sydney Johnston (Virginia Beach, Va./First Colonial) plated the fourth run on a bases-loaded walk to give Mercy a 4-1 lead.
The Dolphins got a run back in the bottom of the fourth to make it 4-2. The Mavericks tacked on two more runs in the fifth inning to take a 6-2 lead. Lula brought home the first run on a sacrifice fly to right field to make it 5-2 and Sisco plated the final run after reaching on an error.
Staten Island scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to make it 6-5. However, senior Sabrina Gonzalez (Royal Palm Beach, Fla./Wellington) got a groundout to third to end the game.
Lula went 1-for-3 with two RBI and Ricci went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Sisco went 3-for-5 with an RBI and Karavias went 2-for-4. Crawford went 1-for-4 and Johnston went 1-for-3. Bowman went 1-for-4 and Gonzalez pitched a complete game with just two earned runs allowed to earn her second win.
Staten Island was led by Jacklyn Kateridge who went 4-for-4 with two RBI. Anissa Acosta pitched 0.2 innings with two runs allowed to take the loss.
Mercy and Staten Island both had 11 hits and three errors.
