WINTER HAVEN, Florida. – After their first day in Florida splitting their two games the Chargers Softball team had another two games Monday, against The University of Indianapolis and Purdue University Northwest. Sitting at .500 the team looked to have similar results of their game against Dominican where they poured on 9 runs and dominated from the circle and carried that momentum into both games on Monday.
Game 1 vs Indianapolis
Preview
Indianapolis and New Haven have only faced off against each other twice in each programmed history with Indianapolis taking both games in the series. Sitting at 16-1 coming off beating Dominican in Game 1 of their Monday double header the Greyhounds were riding a 13 game winning streak with a vast majority of their season already under them and offensive explosions most recently shutting out Dominican 10-0 in 6 innings before first pitch with the Chargers. On the other side the Chargers sat at .500 losing game two against Wayne State in their opening day of the tournament. The blue and gold looked to find the same bats that they had in game 1 where they crossed 9 runs and allowed only 1 to score against them.
Between the Chalk
Selena Aponte (Lumberton, N.J./Rancocas Valley) returned to the circle coming off of her dominant performance against Dominican, shutting down the Chargers offense allowing only 1 run and striking out three. Aponte continued in her stride from Monday retiring the Greyhounds through the first two innings with ease while the blue and golds bats were quiet. In the top of the third the Greyhounds led things off with a walk before back to back singles to score two runs to give Indianapolis the 2-0 lead. Aponte would lock back in and shut down the Greyhounds offense throughout the remainder of the game striking out 3 and giving up the two runs one being an earned run in 7 innings of work. The Chargers offense never found their rhythm against the combination of Greyhound pitchers who were able to silence the New Haven bats a day after they scored 9 runs in their Florida opener. The Greyhounds held on to beat the Chargers 2-0 as the Chargers then looked to turn things around heading into their second game in their first ever meeting with Purdue University Northwest.
Game 2 vs Purdue University Northwest
Preview
Entering both teams second games for Monday the Chargers were looking for a win to move back to.500 while the pride sat at 5-4 looking to stay above .500 after an extra innings loss to Bentley University in their first game of the day. This is the first meeting between the Chargers and the Pride in program history and from the first pitch it turned into a classic between the 5-4 Pride and the 2-3 Chargers.
Between the Chalk
After being shut out in game 1 against Indianapolis, the blue and gold wasted no time jumping on the board in the first. Maeve Lougheed (Audobon, N.J./Audobon) singled followed by a Nahtali Simpson (West Orange, N.J./West Orange) walk to get first and second with one out. Jovanna Hillman (Seymour, Conn./Saint Joseph) singled to load the bases and Halle Frederick (Green Lane, Pa./Quakertown) brought Lougheed and Simpson home with a ground rule double that jumped over the left field fence. Ashley Veisz (Robbinsville,N.J./Robbinsville) came up and didn't leave the Charger out on the pond, driving Frederick and Hillman to notch the score at 4-0 in the top half of the inning. With the four run cushion, Mia Iodice (Rehoboth, Mass./Dighton-Rehoboth Regional) headed to the mound looking for her first win of the season. Iodice picked up the first two outs of the inning quickly getting two line outs before the Pride took Iodice deep for a 3 run homerun making it a one run game after the first inning. After the first both starting pitchers settled in and would shut down both offenses going 1,2,3 in multiple innings. Both teams bats would be cold until the 7th when before the sun would set they got their last bit of warmth. The Chargers would get a runner into scoring position in the 7th but were never able to grab the insurance run headed into the bottom of the 7th with a one run lead. The Pride led off the inning with a single and a walk and turned to small ball tactics to eventually load the bases with only one out. With the pressure on the Pride were able to break through the Chargers infield finding the gap to score two and walk off against the Chargers in a heartbreaking defeat.
Day 3
The blue and gold now look to their third day of play to jump back to .500 in a pair of games on Tuesday first against Minnesota Crookston, the first time these two teams have met to play, with first pitch at 2:30 p.m. and game two against Hillsdale, the second time these two teams have met where the Charger took the first meeting 8-3, with first pitch of game two at 4:45 p.m.
