WEST HAVEN, Conn. – With the road stand complete for the Chargers, the blue and gold returned home for their final two double headers against Saint Anslem College and then Southern New Hampshire College to wrap up the regular season. The life at home has been good for the Chargers who are 7-3 at home and look to improve upon that record and make their final push ahead of the postseason that is set to start next week.
Preview:
Lifetime the series has been led by the Chargers. In 32 previous meetings New Haven leads 20-12, with the Chargers in 2021 hosting the nationally ranked Hawks and splitting with them. New Haven entered off a tough split to Saint Michael's College in two games that went to the wire. The Chargers on the season sat 17-19 and 11-11 in the conference which placed them seventh and making their final push for the postseason. Saint Anselm entered on a four game winning streak that placed them second in the conference with a 24-13 record overall and 17-5 in the conference.
Game 1:
Selena Aponte (Lumberton, N.J./Rancocas Valley) got the nod in game one taking to the circle after picking up her tenth win of the season against the Purple Knights. Aponte was dominant, sitting down the Hawks batters in order in the first inning, turning things over to her offense. The offense would go down in order in the first finding leather compared to the grass. In the second inning the Hawks would get four hits off Aponte pushing three runs across on an error by the Chargers. New Haven got their first hit in the second when Maeve Lougheed (Audobon, N.J./Audobon) broke through the left side of the infield singling to left before being stranded at first in the inning. Saint Anselm would pick up another two runs in the third followed by three in the fourth. New Haven would threaten loading the bases in the third but not be able to get the big hit to get onto the scoreboard. New Haven finished the game with 5 hits but were unable to push a run across losing 8-0 in the opener of the double header.
Game 2:
In search of 100 strikeouts on the year, Mia Iodice (Rehoboth, Mass./Dighton-Rehoboth Regional) entered the circle trying to lead the blue and gold to a bounce back win in game two. On the year Iodice had 92 strikeouts and looked to make it to the 100 mark in the game. Iodice picked up her first strikeout in the first inning going 1,2,3. The second inning was more of the same with the Hawks going down in order and Iodice picking up her second strikeout. Iodice would double up her strikeout count in the striking out two bringing her count to four in the afternoon. The blue and gold struck first in the fourth putting the first run on the board. Ashley Veisz (Robbinsville,N.J./Robbinsville) with one out reached on an error by the right fielder and would advance to third on a Halle Frederick (Green Lane, Pa./Quakertown) single setting up runners at the corners with one away. Alex Tenero (Wallingford, Conn./Lyman Hall) was picked again to pinch hit in a crucial moment and yet again came in clutch driving in Veisz from third and beating out the throw to first to make it a 1-0 game. With the lead Iodice would pick up another strikeout in the fifth but the Hawks would capitalize on a Chargers error scoring two and taking the lead. In the sixth the Hawks would push three runs across on four hits off the Chargers taking the lead to four runs. With six strikeouts on the game Iodice needed two more in the seventh and she did just that, picking up her 100th strikeout on the very last out of the inning to record the milestone. The offense would get two on in the seventh but were shut down scoring one run on five hits in the game dropping the pair to the Hawks.
New Haven stays at home for a matchup against the Penmen of Southern New Hampshire. Saturday will be the Chargers final home game of the year and prior to the start of game 1 the team will honor their seven seniors. First pitch is set for 12 p.m with the senior day activities set to start 11:30 all available on the Charger Sports Network and NE10 Now app.
