WEST HAVEN, Conn. – Following a 2-2 road stand, the Chargers now get set for the heart of their schedule at home with six games in four days opened up with a matchup against the College of Saint Rose. With rain on the radar the game was pushed back to a 1:45 the time change had no impact on starting pitcher Selena Aponte (Lumberton, N.J./Rancocas Valley) who dominated in the circle starting the home series on a strong foot.
Preview:
Entering the matchup the Chargers came off of a series split on the road against Franklin Pierce, where the Chargers ended the Ravens bid of a perfect season. In the year the Chargers entered 10-10 overall with a 4-2 record in the Southwest side of the Northeast 10. On the road the blue and gold were 2-2 with the trip to New Hampshire being their third road trip of the season with weather and re schedulings. The offense for the Chargers has been led by the long ball with 12 entering the series with Nahtali Simpson (West Orange, N.J./West Orange) and Hailey Laforte (Milford, Conn./Foran) both hitting three. Across the dugout the Golden Knights entered, sitting perfect, 7-18, on a six game losing streak and 3-7 on the road. New Haven has dominated the series all time leading 27-8 with the Chargers sweeping Saint Rose in 2021.
Game 1:
The offense could only be held quite for so long before the bats came alive. After the first pitch was pushed back nearly two hours from the original time the time made no difference for Selena Aponte (Lumberton, N.J./Rancocas Valley) in the circle who took control of the Golden Knights and worked at her own pace. Aponte started strongly, sitting the order down in order and turning things to the bats. That was the tempo for the entire game as Aponte let up only two hits to the Golden Knights throughout the game. To add on she picked up 6 strikeouts bringing her season total up to 38 on the season. The offense got rolling in the fifth with Melissa Bike (Stratford, Conn./Saint Joseph) leading the inning off with a single. Bike would come around to score on a Mya Case (Syracuse, N.Y/West Genessee) sacrifice grounder making it 1-0. Nahtali Simpson (West Orange, N.J./West Orange) doubled, scoring a pair and Maeve Lougheed (Audobon, N.J./Audobon) switched places with Simpson doubling and taking her spot out as second base.
4 runs was more than enough for Aponte but for extra insurance the blue and gold plated another in the fifth giving New Haven the 5-0 lead and Aponte slammed the door on Saint Rose giving the Charger the 5-0 win in game one and heading into game two with the hot bats.
Game 2:
The red hot bats carried over into game two jumping out and scoring three runs in the first. It all started when Mya Case (Syracuse, N.Y/West Genessee) singled to lead off the home first. Nahtali SImpson did not leave her out on the bases for long, doubling to the gap scoring case from first and taking the early 1-0 lead. That was just the beginning as Jovanna Hillman (Seymour, Conn./Saint Joseph) flew out to right to score Simpson who had stolen third on a passed ball making it 2-0. Maeve Lougheed (Audobon, N.J./Audobon) would get things going again singling. Melissa Bike (Stratford, Conn./Saint Joseph) would then cash in, doubling to right field and the track meet for Lougheed began scoring from first base and taking the early 3-0 lead. The Golden Knights picked up two runs off Iodice in the second cutting the deficit to one run. After that both pitchers settled in and it turned into a pitching duel. The blue and gold were the closest to breaking through but were denied getting runners into scoring position but never got the big hit until the fifth. In a wild play Nahtali Simpson (West Orange, N.J./West Orange) signed to left and took off for second, looking like a sure out she caused a wild throw and would then take off for third sliding in safely with one out. Jovanna Hillman (Seymour, Conn./Saint Joseph) would walk after that, setting up first and third one away for Maeve Lougheed (Audobon, N.J./Audobon). Lougheed flew out to deep left field scoring Simpson making it 4-2. In the sixth the Golden Knights grabbed a run back via the homer making it 4-3. With Saint Rose down to their final three outs, Mia Iodice (Rehoboth, Mass./Dighton-Rehoboth Regional) shut them down giving up one hit and getting a ground out to short to end the game and complete the sweep for New Haven.
The home stand continues for the Chargers with a Sunday double header against the Dolphins of Le Moyne for the second of three straight home series for the Blue and Gold. All time the Chargers lead the Dolphins 23-22 all time and swept the Dolphins in 2021. Without the issue of weather, first pitch is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. on the Charger Sports Network with Live Stream and Live Stats available.
