SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The University of New Haven softball team picked up its fourth straight NE10 divisional victory with a sweep of the American International Yellow Jackets on Saturday afternoon in the Bay State. Leading the Blue and Gold in the doubleheader was freshman Jovanna Hillman (Seymour, Conn./Saint Joseph's) who combined for a four-hit day, that coming in seven at bats, while driving in an impressive five runs, including a pair on her team-leading ninth home run.

Overall, Hillman's four hits was tied for the team-lead with junior shortstop Taylor Luzzi (Fishkill, N.Y./John Jay) who connected on a base knock in half of her at bats, while driving in a pair of runs. Three other players combined for two hits on the day with sophomore right fielder Alexandria Cunkle (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin), senior Marissa Colby (Charlton, Mass./Shepherd Hill) and senior first baseman Kristine Liptack (Trumbull, Conn./Trumbull) each finishing with their two hits on the day split over the two games. Liptack also drove in a pair of runs.

In the circle, the two sophomore pitchers for New Haven each earned a complete game victory with Kylie Stonebraker (Mechanicsville, Va./Lee-Davis High School) improving her team-best to 11 victories, while Megan Butts (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) picked up her ninth win of the year. Leading the way between the duo was Stonebreaker who surrendered just three hits and struck out a career-best 11 of the 24 batters she faced while not issuing a walk. Butts closed out game one with five hits allowed while striking out a pair of Yellow Jackets.

GAME 1: New Haven 5, American International 2

The Chargers got on the board early in the day, plating three runs in the top of the first inning, all scoring with two outs in the frame. Senior Sierra Whitlock (Woodbridge, Va./Woodbridge) and Colby opened up the game with back-to-back singles before the first outs were recorded. With the pair in scoring position, Hillman recorded her first base knock, a single to left field for the two RBI. After an error at second extended the inning, right fielder Cunkle began her day in style with an RBI single to right scoring Hillman.

After surrendering a single run in the bottom of the first, the Chargers got that back and added one more in the top of the second, again scoring with two outs in the inning. Luzzi plated the first run of the inning with her two-out single to right center driving in junior Madison Derosia (Brattleboro, Vt./Brattleboro Union) who led off the inning working a 10-pitch free pass. After swiping second, Luzzi was rewarded by Liptack who sent the Chargers seventh hit of the day back up the middle allowing the run to score from second.

Following that early 5-0 lead, the game was in the hands of Butts in the circle as she stranded four runners on base over the final five innings, allowing one run in the bottom of the sixth following back-to-back singles from AIC. In the end, Butts secured the victory forcing a double play as the Chargers improved their overall record over .500 for the season.

GAME 2: New Haven 6, American International 2

The starter of game two was nearly a mirror of the opening game for the Chargers as they plated three runs in the top of the first before adding one more in the second to take the early 4-0 lead. In the first, all three runs for New Haven came with two outs in the inning with Liptack recording the first RBI of the game on a single through the left side that drove in Colby. Hillman followed that single from Liptack with the third hit of the inning, a home run to left that resulted in two more runs.

In the second, a leadoff double from Cunkle was rewarded as the sophomore right fielder began both games in the same fashion, with a hit in her first at bat. This time around Cunkle was driven in on the very next at bat courtesy of senior third baseman Erin Stever (Parish, N.Y./Altmar Parish Williamstown) who singled down the left field line allowing Cunkle to score from second.

From that point on the Chargers relied on the stellar pitching in the circle from Stonebraker who opened up the game striking out the first five batters she faced, including three by way of a backwards K. The sophomore would surrender two runs in the third inning, just one of which was earned, however she went on to record the final two outs in the third by way of strikeouts, giving her seven over the first nine outs in the game.

Before all was said and done, the Chargers got both of those surrendered runs back with single runs in the fifth and seventh innings, both with the assistance of errors against the Yellow Jackets. In the sixth inning, Luzzi picked up the RBI when her single to center drove in Whitlock who reached on an error at short. The final run came courtesy of Hillman's second extra base hit of the game, a double down the left field line that drove in Sam Errera who was running in place of Colby who reached on an error.

Down the stretch, Stonebraker got back into form, retiring the final six batters she faced in order, including three more by way of a strikeout, which gave her a career-high 11 K's.

UP NEXT

The Chargers and Yellow Jackets will close out the series on Sunday afternoon with the Blue and Gold looking for their first divisional series sweep of the season. First pitch in the series finale is set for 12:00 p.m. at Judy Groff Field.