MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – The University of New Haven softball team got two more strong pitching performances and some clutch hitting late in games as the Chargers won two more contests at the Snowbird Freezeout on Saturday. New Haven downed Winston-Salem State 3-0 in the opener before beating Slippery Rock 5-2 in the afternoon game.
 
New Haven 3, Winston-Salem State 0
Alyssa Monteverde (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip) (1-0) picked up her first collegiate win, throwing a three-hit shutout as the Chargers blanked the Lady Rams. She did not allow a hit until the third inning and struck out a career-high six batters in her first complete game.
 
The offense got Monteverde all the runs she needed in the first inning when Catherine Vaughan (Commack, N.Y./Hauppauge) singled and stole second. Three batters later, Marissa Colby (Charlton, Mass./Shepherd Hill) drove home Vaughan with a single to center for a 1-0 New Haven lead.
 
The game stayed that way until the bottom of the fifth when Samantha Errera (Sweetwater, N.J./Cedar Creek) reached on an error. Gabby DeLeo (Philadelphia, Pa./St. Hubert Catholic) laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt, allowing Errera to advance all the way to third base where she stood when Julie Devlin (Baldwin, N.Y./Northwood School) singled to bring her home, making it 2-0. An insurance run was added an inning later when Colby doubled. Madison Derosia (Brattleboro, Vt./Brattleboro Union) came in as a pinch-runner and advanced to third on a groundout before scoring on a passed ball.
 
New Haven 5, Slippery Rock 2
The Rock got on the board in the first inning with an unearned run. The Chargers responded in the third when DeLeo led off with a single and moved to second on a Devlin sacrifice. Two batters later, Sierra Whitlock (Woodbridge, Va./Woodbridge) brought home DeLeo with a single to tie the game at 1-1.
 
In the fourth, the Blue and Gold saw Alycia Marsello (North Kingstown, R.I/Prout) double high off the fence with one out. Derosia was brought in as a pinch-runner and after moving to third on an Alexandria Cunkle (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) groundout, she scored on an Erin Stever (Parish, N.Y./Altmar Parish Williamstown) single to put the Chargers up 2-1. Slippery Rock got the run back in the bottom of the inning when a throwing error allowed Caitlin Baxter to score, knotting the game at 2-2.
 
Deadlocked into the seventh, New Haven broke the tie as walks to DeLeo and Vaughan had runners on first and second with one out. Whitlock promptly ripped a single through the right side to plate DeLeo to make it 3-2. After a walk from Colby loaded the bases, Taylor Luzzi (Fishkill, N.Y./John Jay) laced a single into rightfield scoring Vaughan and Whitlock pushing the Chargers lead to 5-2. The Rock did not go down easily, loading the bases in the bottom of the seventh, but Megan Butts (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) got Megan Brown to ground out to end the game.
 
Butts (2-0) authored the second consecutive complete game victory to start her career, not allowing an earned run. She did a good job of keeping the ball down as 15 of her 21 outs were on the ground.
 
UP NEXT
The Chargers close out play in the Snowbird Freezeout with a pair of games on Sunday. New Haven will face West Chester at 10:00 a.m. before a 12:00 p.m. matchup with Clarion.