The Albertus Magnus softball team handed St. Joseph's College its first Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) loss on Saturday afternoon in league play. The Falcons won game one of the doubleheader 7-4 before falling to the Monks 10-2 in game two.
With the GNAC split, the Falcons' move to 12-11 on the year, while the Monks moved to 21-3 overall and 11-1 in GNAC play.
In game one, despite four errors, the Falcons tallied 10 hits to defeat the Monks.
The Monks began the scoring with a run off four hits and an Albertus error in the bottom of the first, Kim Jordan led off with a single and crossed the plate on a misplayed sac bunt attempt by Connie Grovo.
The lead quickly vanished as the Falcons responded with a pair of runs off three hits in the top of the second. Carli Matrisian (Milford, Conn.) ignited the rally with a leadoff single, moved to second on a Veronica Hribko (East Haven, Conn.) bunt and scored when Rachel Cataudella (Shelton, Conn.) doubled to left center. Elaina Maio (West Haven, Conn.) plated Cataudella with a sacrifice fly to center, lifting the visitors to a 2-1 edge.
Saint Joseph's responded in their next turn, reclaiming the lead with two runs off three hits and a pair of Albertus miscues in the bottom of the second.
The Falcons put up three runs off three hits in the top of the third. Brittney Urciuoli (Newington, Conn.) led off with a double and eventually scored on an infield error. First baseman Amanda Jessey (East Haven, Conn.) reached base and later stole home to score the Falcons' fifth run and designated player Devon DeLallo (Redding, Conn.) singled and wound up crossing the plate on a sac fly off the bat of third baseman Hribko, making it a 5-3 game.
Theresa Hendrix was 3-3 with a run and a triple for the Monks, while senior Lindsay Moore added a pair of hits in four at bats in the loss. Senior starter Rae-Marie Copan suffered her first loss of the season, falling to 10-1 after yielding seven runs (five earned) off eight hits with a strikeout in 3.2 innings. Freshman pitcher Danielle Egan was effective in relief, tossing 3.1 frames of two-hit ball to close out the contest.
For the Falcons, Urciuoli was 2-for-4 with two runs, a double and an RBI, while Jessey went 2-for-4 with a run scored, a double and a run batted in. Matrisian added a pair of singles and a run in four at bats. Starting pitcher Brianna Longley (Milford, Conn.) allowed four runs (one earned) off 10 hits and fanned one batter in a complete-game effort to improve to 6-4 on the season.
In game two, Urciuoli recorded her 100th career hit in the Falcons' loss as the Monks took the contest with a 10-2 victory.
Laura Jordan earned the victory as she pitched five innings, improving to 4-1 on the year for the Monks. Jordan struck out three batters, while allowing two runs, both unearned, on five hits.
Megan Kelly (Bronx, N.Y.) picked up the loss in 4.2 innings of work as she allowed 10 runs on 15 hits.
Doubles led the way for the Monks with runs off the multiple-base hits in the second and third innings. Two hits and two errors in the fourth inning added to the Monks' lead. The Monks put together a 6-run fifth inning led by RBIs from Megen Pollini, Kim Jordan, and Theresa Hendrix.