WEST HAVEN, Conn. – Home sweet home for the University of New Haven softball team who returned home, following a tough loss on the road to start the week, to host conference foes the Pace Setters for a midweek doubleheader action looking to make a final push towards the postseason.
The Charger's bats came to play from the first pitch and even with the cool weather, the bats warmed up and stayed hot all day taking early leads in both games. Selena Aponte (Lumberton, N.J./Rancocas Valley) got the nod in game one and went to work throwing seven innings of work for the Blue and Gold. After a lead-off walk, Aponte sat the Setters down in order in the first. New Haven then jumped out early on the Setters with a leadoff double by Bella Chenet (Plantation, Fla./Archbishop McCarthy) to start the game. Olivia Roberto (Merrick, N.Y./Calhoun) swapped places with Chenet at second doubling to left-center putting New Haven up 1-0. With the lead, Aponte continued to deal from the circle keeping runners off the bases and the bats of the Setters quiet. In the third, Chenet doubled for her second time of the game before coming all the way around to score later in the inning doubling the Charger's lead to two. The Setters responded with two runs of their own in the fourth off two hits tying the game up forcing the bats of the Chargers to respond. Pace took their first lead of the series in the fifth pushing a third run across taking the one-run lead. In the home fifth, New Haven answered the call tying things back up at three after Maeve Lougheed (Audobon, N.J./Audobon) singled scoring Hailey Polisano (Howell, N.J./Howell) who led the inning off with a single to bring the game level at three. In the sixth, Pace retook the lead off two hits in the inning taking a 4-3 lead. New Haven in the home sixth then tied and took the lead. Combining for four hits, the Chargers plated four runs in the inning with Roberto and Lougheed coming up with big hits in the inning to take the lead 7-4. Aponte with the lead shut down the Setters in the seventh to secure the win. Aponte in the win threw seven innings of six-hit four-run softball striking out one. The offense exploded for seven runs on 11 hits in the win.
Coming off the win in the first game Don Justus and the Chargers looked to Mia Iodice (Rehoboth, Mass./Dighton-Rehoboth Regional) to duel against Pace's back-to-back NE10 Pitcher of the Week Gisselle Garcia. After Garcia was scratched in the game one start she got the nod in game two but it was Iodice who took center stage of the game being efficient and effective with her pitchers throwing a four-pitch inning to get the Setters. Iodice sat Pace down in the first in order to turn the work to her team's bats coming off a red-hot performance in game one. Olivia Roberto (Merrick, N.Y./Calhoun) stayed hot out of the two hole, with a one-out single up the middle. She would advance to third on Maeve Lougheed's (Audobon, N.J./Audobon) double before scoring on Halle Frederick (Green Lane, Pa./Quakertown)s's double giving New Haven the early one-run lead. Iodice with the lead continued to execute her pitches using her strong defense behind her to get the outs and keep giving the bats their chances. It was the third when the Chargers struck again as Maeve Lougheed (Audobon, N.J./Audobon) doubled for the second time of the game before Halle Frederick (Green Lane, Pa./Quakertown) replicated her first inning as well doubling, scoring Lougheed and doubling the Chargers lead over Pace. The Setters wouldn't go down without a fight and pushed a run across in the fifth on Iodice making it a 2-1 game. The blue and gold bats had other thoughts as in the home half they responded again tacking on a third run after Frederick doubled for the third time and Meg Anderson (Cranston, R.I./Cranston) singled to score Frederick. The two-run lead was more than enough for Iodice who completed seven innings of six-hit, one-run work to pick up the win in the circle and handing the loss to Garcia. The bats led by Halle Frederick (Green Lane, Pa./Quakertown) with three doubles totaled three runs on nine hits.
The Chargers now head down I-95 to take on the Purple Knights of the University of Bridgeport to close out the week with a Friday non-conference doubleheader. In their final non-conference doubleheader of the season the Chargers look to pick up a pair of wins for bragging rights and overall standing points ahead of the postseason. First pitch of the doubleheader against the Purple Knights comes at 2:00 p.m. at Seaside Park in Bridgeport Connecticut. All updates, schedules, and post-game recaps for the team will be available at Newhavenchargers.com.
