WEST HAVEN, Conn. – Following a 3-1 homestand to open up conference play the blue and gold were back on the road this time in New York to face off against Molloy for their second to last non-conference series. After a two home run series against Assumption College, Hailey Laforte (Milford, Conn./Foran) and the Chargers offense looked to keep things rolling with Selena Aponte (Lumberton, N.J./Rancocas Valley) on the mound in game 1 followed by Mia Iodice (Rehoboth, Mass./Dighton-Rehoboth Regional) in game 2 riding a weekend where she picked up two wins and threw a no-hitter against American International.
Preview:
The Chargers and Lions have met 30 times in program history with New Haven commanding the series leading 21-9, sweeping the Lions in West Haven in the 2021 season. New Haven split with the Lions the last time they traveled to New York in 2019 where Molloy took game two of the double header. Molloy enters the matchup 10-11 after splitting their doubleheader against their conference foe Bridgeport losing game one and winning game two. New Haven on the other hand coming off of a 3-1 weekend where thy swept AIC in a Saturday NE10 double header and split with Assumption on Sunday entered New York with a 8-8 record and riding the strong performances in the batter's box and in the circle looking to keep thing going against a non-conference foe.
Game 1:
The cold air continued to be a factor for the Chargers bats in New York who had to get used to the New York air throughout. That along with plays to rob the blue and gold of hits, New Haven totalled 1 run on three hits. Jovanna Hillman's (Seymour, Conn./Saint Joseph) bat was the first to heat up in the fourth. Ahead in the count 2-1, Hillman found a pitch in her wheel-house and went deep, clearing the left field fence and jumping on the board. New Haven would get their opportunities throughout getting opportunities with two runners on but were never able to cash in and break through. Alongside Hillman, Mya Case (Syracuse, N.Y/West Genessee) picked up a hit in the sixth with a single, and Briana Clementi (Morganville, N.J./Colts Neck) picked up the third hit in the seventh. Molloy would piece together a three run first to take the lead and score another in the second and two more in the fifth setting up a 6-1 win for the lions. The loss snapped the Chargers three game win streak against the Lions. The homer of Hillman would be the spark to start the offense heading into a critical game two looking to the split the series.
Game 2:
Following the tough loss in game one the bats warmed right up and jumped on the lions immediately scoring three runs in the first inning. Mya Case (Syracuse, N.Y/West Genessee) led things off with taking one for the team on the first pitch, getting hit and heading down to first base. That was all the energy the bats needed to heat up as Jovanna Hillman (Seymour, Conn./Saint Joseph) cracked the game open, doubling to the gap in left center scoring Case and advancing Nahtali Simpson (West Orange, N.J./West Orange), who walked, to third. Ashley Veisz (Robbinsville,N.J./Robbinsville) didn't leave Simpson at third for long, battling an 0-2 pitch through the left side scoring Simpson easily and setting up runners at the corners for Melissa Bike (Stratford, Conn./Saint Joseph). Bike would hit a hot shot to the shortstop who would throw it over the head of the catcher scoring Hillman from third giving Bike the RBI and the 3-0 in the first. Mia Iodice (Rehoboth, Mass./Dighton-Rehoboth Regional) continued to dominate in the circle posting consecutive zeros in the first and second picking up two strikeouts and giving up one hit. The Lions would make it a one run game in the third stringing together four hits and scoring two runs in the home half of the inning. With the one run lead the bats had no intentions of keeping it that way and jumped out on the lions starting pitcher in the fourth. Just like in the first it all started with a walk as Briana Clementi (Morganville, N.J./Colts Neck) drew a full count and won by earring the walk. Her time on the bases would be short with the red hot bat of Hailey Laforte (Milford, Conn./Foran) up and once again Laforte drove one deep to left center and cleared the fence getting to trot the bases and be welcomed at the plate. That energy carried over to Mya Case (Syracuse, N.Y/West Genessee) who singled followed by Hailey Polisano (Howell, N.J./Howell) singled as well. Nahtali Simpson (West Orange, N.J./West Orange) walked to load the bases and Jovanna Hillman (Seymour, Conn./Saint Joseph) cashed in again, flying out to score Case from third. Ashley Veisz (Robbinsville,N.J./Robbinsville) would double this time to the gap scoring Polisano and Simpson for the fifth run of the inning. The bats would come around in the fifth to score one more to give the Chargers 9. That would be more than enough offense for Mia Iodice (Rehoboth, Mass./Dighton-Rehoboth Regional) who would throw the complete game giving up four runs on ten hits and striking out eight lions picking up her fourth win. As a whole the offense totaled 9 runs on 9 hits en route to a 9-4 win to split with the Lions.
Road Ahead
The split in New York was just the start of the road trip for the Chargers capped off by their last non-conference doubleheader at Caldwell. The blue and gold now return back into NE10 conference play sitting at 9-9 ahead of back-to-back doubleheaders starting in New Hampshire to take on Franklin Pierce on Saturday with the first game of the double header at 12:00 p.m. followed by another doubleheader on Sunday in Vermont taking on the Purple Knights from Saint Michael's College with the first game of the double header at 12:00 p.m. The road trip finishes at Caldwell on April 9th before the team finally returns to West Haven.
