PURCHASE, N.Y. – Exactly one month after their first matchup was rained out, the Purchase College and Baruch College softball teams finally went head-to-head on the diamond.
In the non-conference twin bill played at Purchase but hosted by Baruch, the Bearcats came away with the sweep, recording 10-6 and 9-1 wins, respectively.
The pair of losses dropped Purchase to 10-18 overall, while Baruch moved to 20-12 on the season.
Game One: Baruch 10, Purchase 6
Purchase gave up a 5-0 lead to come out trailing by four runs in the opener.
A Baruch wild pitch put the Panthers on the board in the top of the first inning. Later in the frame, rookie DP
Olivia McLellan (FR/Corning, NY) knocked one to right field to bring home
Olivia Audia (FR/Dover Plains, NY) and push PC's advantage to 2-0.
Senior ace
Kelly Agostini (Centereach, NY) held the Baruch offense to a hitless bottom of the first, while fanning one and collecting the inning-ending putout in the second frame.
Purchase stretched its lead to 5-0 in the top of the third off one hit and a pair of Baruch errors. Audia was plunked to start the inning. She stole second and advanced to third on a
Rebecca Bronzi (FR/Lagrangeville, NY) ground out. McLellan once again recorded the ribbie that scored Audia—this time it was an RBI ground out to second base.
With two outs on the board and Agostini at first base, senior
Jaiya Hewitt (Kingston, NY) doubled to left field and advanced to third on an error by the right fielder. Agostini scored on the error, 4-0. Hewitt came home on a wild pitch, scoring Purchase's fifth run of the game and final for the frame.
With only one out remaining in the bottom half of the inning, Baruch rallied with a trio of tallied to come within two runs of Purchase's advantage.
The score would remain 5-3 until the bottom of the fifth when Baruch erupted with six runs to pull ahead, 9-5.
The Bearcats held the advantage over Purchase for the remainder of the game, tacking on another run in the sixth while giving one up in the seventh for a 10-6 final score.
Baruch starting pitcher Caroline Gallagher (6-3) earned the win after tossing 5.2 innings for the Bearcats. She gave up nine hits, five runs (3 ER), while striking out two and walking one.
Agostini (8-11) was tagged with the loss after putting in 5.0 innings of work in the circle for Purchase.
Game Two: Baruch 9, Purchase 1
Baruch ran its win streak to four games when Carly Quint came in to score a run off a Bridget Campanelli double to center field. The RBI gave the Bearcats a 2-0 edge over Purchase—one which they carried out to a 9-1 victory.
Quint (10-6) was also a bright spot for the Bearcat defense. The rookie pitcher allowed five hits and one unearned run, while walking just one batter and striking out six over 6.0 innings of work.
Emily Foltin (SO/Somers, NY) was tagged with her first loss of the season (1-1) after pitching a complete game for Purchase in the night cap. She gave up nine runs (6 ER) off 11 hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
Up Next
Purchase returns to Skyline Conference action this weekend as the team heads to Farmingdale State for their final road game of the regular season. The Panthers are set to take on the league powerhouse Rams starting at 12 p.m. on Saturday.
