WINTER HAVEN, Florida. – In their final day of play in the sunshine state, the New Haven softball team looked to move back to .500 on the year with a pair of second all time meetings with Bloomsburg in game one followed by Shepherd in game two of the afternoon and the teams tenth and final game of the tournament. The long ball was the blue and gold way to push runs across on Thursday and looked to continue to clear the fence on Friday.
Game 1 vs Bloomsburg
Preview
In just their second ever meeting with the Huskies, it was Bloomsburg taking the first meeting of the two teams in 2003 winning 7-1. Bloomsburg entered the contest sitting at 7-10 losing their Friday morning game against Wayne State to bring their losing streak to two games entering the dugout against the blue and gold. Across the diamond New Haven entered their first game of Friday sitting at 4-6 after splitting their double header on Thursday. New Haven scored six runs total on Thursday with five of them coming off of the long ball. Meg Anderson (Cranston, R.I./Cranston) hit a game winning grand slam and game 1 and Mya Case (Syracuse, N.Y/West Genessee) picked up her first homer of the season in game 2.
Between the Chalk
Mia Iodice (Rehoboth, Mass./Dighton-Rehoboth Regional) returned to the circle coming off over her first win of the season against Slippery Rock on Thursday. It was a pitching duel as both offenses were only able to amass four hits combined through three and a half innings. It was the Huskies getting on the scoreboard first scoring three runs in the bottom of the fourth to take the 3-0 lead. The blue and gold jumped onto the scoreboard cutting into the lead in the sixth. Mya Case (Syracuse, N.Y/West Genessee) led the inning off, singling and then stealing second the very next pitch. She would advance to third on an error, setting up Case on third, Simpson at first and Maeve Lougheed (Audobon, N.J./Audobon) in the box. Lougheed singled, scoring Case and advancing SImpson to second before both were stranded in the inning making it a 3-1 game. The pitching duel would continue ending the game 3-1 in favor of the Huskies. The Chargers scored 1 run on four hits while in the circle Iodice finished getting the Husky batters to ground out ten times. The loss brings the Chargers to 4-7 on the year ahead of their final game in Florida against Shepherd.
Game 2 vs Shepherd
Preview
Following their first game the blue and gold had a quick turnaround for their second ever meeting with the Rams from Shepherd who the Chargers beat in their lone matchup in 2010 winning 2-1. Shepherd entered the contest sitting at 4-8 on a three game losing streak and not playing since Tuesday after their Wednesday double header was canceled. New Haven entered the game coming in off a tough 3-1 loss to Bloomsburg in their first game of the afternoon. Maeve Lougheed (Audobon, N.J./Audobon) drove in the blue and golds run scoring Mya Case (Syracuse, N.Y/West Genessee) in game one and the Chargers totalled five hits in the game and were held inside of the park in the contest.
Between the Chalk
The blue and gold looking to split their final day made minor changes to the lineup and sent Selena Aponte (Lumberton, N.J./Rancocas Valley) to the circle looking to pick up her fourth win on the season. Very similar to the game against Bloomsburg, it was a pitching duel as both offenses went down in order in the first. The Rams were able to push a run across in the second to take the early lead. That would be the lone blemish on Aponte's stat line for the afternoon. After giving up the two hits and one run in that inning Aponte would only allow five more hits while striking out four Rams throughout the remainder of the game. The blue and golds offense got started in the 5th when Selena Aponte (Lumberton, N.J./Rancocas Valley) led things off with a walk before being pinch run for by Ashanti Truelsen (Yonkers, N.Y./Saint Vincent Ferrer). Truelsen would steal second before scoring on a Hailey Laforte (Milford, Conn./Foran) single in the left field game to make it a tied game. After tying things up in the 5th Aponte would shut down the Rams offense in the top half and turn it back over to the offense looking to take the lead. The 6th started with Hailey Polisano (Howell, N.J./Howell) leading things off with a single up the middle. Nahtali Simpson (West Orange, N.J./West Orange) dropped down a perfect sacrifice bunt to advance Polisano over to second. Maeve Lougheed (Audobon, N.J./Audobon) entered the box and grounded out to the infield advancing Polisano to third. With two outs Melissa Bike (Stratford, Conn./Saint Joseph) came up as the hero, singling to left scoring Polisano and giving the Chargers the lead heading into the 7th. With the lead Aponte returned to the circle and after getting the first two batters built the suspense for the game. With two runners on and two outs Aponte got a pop up to end the game and give the Chargers the 2-1 victory to split the Friday double header.
Returning Home
With their final day split the Chargers moved to 5-7 overall going 4-6 in the tournament. The blue and gold now pack their bags and depart the sunshine state and return home to West Haven bringing the sunshine and warm weather with them ahead of the home and conference play home opener. The team will have the week to practice before hosting a conference doubleheader weekend with the Yellowjackets from American International College on Saturday followed by the Greyhounds from Assumption College on Sunday. First pitch for the Saturday double header will be at 12:00 p.m with the broadcast and live stats available on the Charger Sports Network.
