WEST HAVEN, Conn. – With the home stand complete, going 4-2, the softball team began their road trip starting with a short trip to Elm City rivals Southern Connecticut State. Women's lacrosse beat the Owls earlier in the week and trying to keep the Elm City blue and gold, it was the softball teams turn on the diamond.
Preview:
The successful home stand was capped off with a Jovanna Hillman (Seymour, Conn./Saint Joseph) two run homer run to beat out Adelphi 2-0, and adding to the Chargers home run total, making it 16 on the year. With the offense being led by the long ball, Mia Iodice (Rehoboth, Mass./Dighton-Rehoboth Regional) looked to add to her consecutive innings without issuing a walk and pick up back to back wins after the win against Adelphi. Sitting at 14-12 overall and 8-5 in the conference the Chargers sat in fourth in the conference looking to move up while on the road. Across the dugout the Owls sit seventh in the conference with a 11-15 overall and 6-8 in the conference, these two teams are no strangers. All time the Chargers lead the series 67-31-2 with the blue and gold taking 3-4 in 2021 at Southern last year. The next chapter of the rivalry continued on Friday between the two battling for control of the city.
Game 1:
The defense was put to the test from the start by the Owls having to make plays and slow the Owls offense. In the circle Selena Aponte (Lumberton, N.J./Rancocas Valley) got four flyouts along with a ground out all while picking up two strikeouts bringing her season total up to 43. Alex Tenero (Wallingford, Conn./Lyman Hall) who came in for the blue and gold picked up a strikeout along with getting the Owls to pop out twice. The offense for the Chargers got 8 runners on throughout the game on three hits and a pair of walks. Mya Case (Syracuse, N.Y/West Genessee) picked up both a walk and hit going 1-2. Alex Tenero (Wallingford, Conn./Lyman Hall) walked for the blue and gold in her one at bat.. Melissa Bike (Stratford, Conn./Saint Joseph) had the Chargers first hit of the afternoon in the third inning singling down the right field line. Maeve Lougheed (Audobon, N.J./Audobon) picked up the third Chargers hit of the contest in the fourth inning going 1-2 in the contest. In a tough opener the Chargers dropped game one 8-0 and looked to bounce back and split in game two.
Game 2:
The offense for the Chargers jumped out quick in game two scoring two in the second and taking the early lead. Maeve Lougheed (Audobon, N.J./Audobon) led the inning off with a single through the left side and that got the ball rolling. Melissa Bike (Stratford, Conn./Saint Joseph) dropped down a sacrifice bunt to advance Lougheed on to second. Lougheed would then advance on Halle Frederick's (Green Lane, Pa./Quakertown) groundout bringing up Cayley Gottschall. Gottschall was not going to leave Lougheed stranded and with two outs singled to left, scoring Lougheed and grabbing the first run. Hailey Laforte (Milford, Conn./Foran) would then bring in Gottschall on a single to right giving the blue and gold the early 2-0 lead and their first lead of the afternoon. As a whole the offense would total 8 hits with three coming in the second. Lougheed would add another hit along with the one two batters of Mya Case (Syracuse, N.Y/West Genessee) and Hailey Polisano (Howell, N.J./Howell) each having a hit. Jovanna Hillman (Seymour, Conn./Saint Joseph) would continue to be hot, picking up a single along with Hallie Frederick. The Chargers would leave five out on the bases proving to be crucial. In the circle Mia Iodice (Rehoboth, Mass./Dighton-Rehoboth Regional) threw six innings striking out four. Her consecutive innings without a walk would come to an end in the second ending the streak at 27 ⅓ innings without a walk. The Owls would score two in the sixth and win game two 3-2 over the Chargers,
With the pair of losses, New Haven moves to 14-14 on the year and 8-6 in the conference. The true road trip now begins for the Chargers with eight games straight on the road before returning home. The team will be off for Easter and return to the diamond in New York on April 20th for a matchup against the Pace Setters with first pitch of the mid-week double header scheduled for 3:00 p.m.
