WEST HAVEN, Conn. – Sophomore Melissa Bike (Stratford, Conn./Saint Joseph) delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th inning in game two on Saturday to lift the Chargers to a doubleheader sweep over Assumption. New Haven took game one by a score of 3-1, before delivering a 5-4 extra inning win in the nightcap to improve to 8-6 (4-0 NE10) on the season.
Freshman pitcher Ava Fitzmaurice (Greenville, N.Y./Greenville) earned the win in both games after starting game one and entering in relief in game two. She threw 10.2 innings over the two games, allowing just one earned run on 11 hits while striking out 11.
Bike, Mya Case (Syracuse, N.Y/West Genessee) and Rachel Crafts (Wilbraham, Mass./Minnechaug Regional) each totaled three hits on the day, while Taylor Luzzi (Fishkill, N.Y./John Jay) and Bike each added three RBI in game two. Case finished the day with three runs scored.
GAME ONE
Fitzmaurice went the distance in game one, allowing seven hits and one walk while striking out seven for her fifth win of the season. Settling into a groove in the third inning, she retired 11 batters in a row from the third through the end of the sixth inning.
The Chargers jumped out to a fast start, collecting seven of their 10 hits in the first two innings.
After falling behind 1-0 in the top of the first, the Chargers answered by pounding out four hits in the bottom of the inning to take a 2-1 lead. Case singled with one out and advanced to second on a groundout. New Haven then strung together three consecutive hits, starting with a RBI double to right-center by Bike to score Case. Jovanna Hillman (Seymour, Conn./Saint Joseph) then dropped a single down the right field line to score Bike to give the Chargers the lead.
After Assumption stranded a runner in the top of the second, New Haven tacked on another run in the bottom of the inning to take 3-1 lead. Vanessa Strohm (Lititz, Pa./Warwick), Catherine Vaughan (Commack, N.Y./Hauppauge) and Sierra Whitlock (Woodbridge, Va./Woodbridge) added three straight hits to load the bases, and Case drew a bases loaded walk to force in Strohm.
Case drove a triple off the base of the left-center field wall with one out in the fourth, but was stranded after back-to-back strikeouts.
New Haven threatened again in the sixth as Strohm led off with a double to right center and advanced to third with one out before getting stranded.
Assumption got a leadoff single to start the seventh, breaking up a string of 11 batters in a row retired. A bloop single put the tying run on first with one out, before Fitzmaurice induced a popup to third and a strikeout swinging to lock own the win.
GAME TWO
New Haven struck first once again in game two, plating a run in the bottom of the first when Bike laced one up the middle, deflecting off the pitcher and allowing Case to come in from third to give New Haven the 1-0 edge.
After both teams went down in order in the second, Assumption loaded the bases with nobody out to start the third inning off three straight infield singles. After a RBI groundout tied the game, a hit batter reloaded the bases, but starter Megan Butts (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) rebounded to get a groundball for a force out, and a pop out to third to escape the jam with just the one run.
Madison Derosia (Brattleboro, Vt./Brattleboro Union) drew a one-out walk and Samantha Errera (Sweetwater, N.J./Cedar Creek) followed by grounding a 1-1 pitch through the right side for a base hit. After Whitlock's sac bunt moved the runners second and third, Derosia raced home on a wild pitch to put the Chargers ahead 2-1. Case followed with a walk, then Luzzi came up and crushed the first pitch the other way into the right-center gap to plate both runners and give New Haven some breathing room at 4-1.
For the second straight game, Assumption put the tying run on base on in the seventh inning, and this time was able to tie the game, knotting it at four on a two-run single and an error.
Sophomore Katrina Aponte (Lumberton, N.J./Rancocas Valley) made a bid to end the game in the bottom of the seventh by getting a pinch hit double, but was stranded at second base.
The game stayed tied into the 10th, when international tie break rules put a runner on second base for Assumption to start the inning. With runners on second and third with nobody out, Fitzmaurice picked up two huge strikeouts and a groundout to escape the threat and keep the score tied.
The Chargers then walked it off in the bottom of the 10th inning to secure their fourth straight win. Luzzi lined a single to left field, advancing Whitlock to third. Bike then stepped in and roped a line drive into centerfield to plate Whitlock with the winning run.
Fitzmaurice picked up her second win of the day to improve to 6-3 on the year after firing 3.2 innings, allowing four hits, one unearned run and striking out four. Butts pitched the first five innings in her second start of the season, allowing one runs on three hits with two strikeouts.
New Haven will return to action tomorrow afternoon at 12 p.m. for a NE10 doubleheader against Merrimack at the New Haven Softball Field.
