The Albertus Magnus softball team swept Rivier in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) doubleheader in New Haven, Conn. on Saturday afternoon. The Falcons came-from-behind in game one with a walk-off single by Rachel Cataudella (Shelton, Conn.) to win 3-2 before cruising to an 8-1 victory in the second game of the day.
Albertus improves to 11-9 on the year and 7-3 in GNAC play, while Rivier falls to 7-13 overall and 0-10 in league action.
In the first game of the day, heading into the bottom of the seventh down 2-0, Albertus rallied with two outs to walk off with a 3-2 victory. With two runners in scoring position, Gillian Fortier (Naugatuck, Conn.) hit a single through the left side of the infield before moving to third on the throw home. Fortier's hit tied the game at two as both Megan Kelly (Bronx, N.Y.) and Amanda Jessey (East Haven, Conn.) scored.
Cataudella took a 1-1 pitch and drilled it down the leftfield line to score Fortier from third to win the game.
Kelly led the Falcons with two hits and one run scored.
Samantha Maselli (Rockville, Centre, N.Y.) earned the complete-game victory to improve to 7-3 on the year. The freshman allowed one earned run on three hits and struck out four batters.
Rivier's Taylor Miller fell to 2-7 on the year as she went 6.2 innings, striking out three batters and allowing five hits. A pinch hit triple by Libby Sammon in the fifth inning scored the game's first run after Destiny Jordan got on base after an Albertus error. Rivier took a 2-0 lead in the top of the seventh when Shaylyn Freitas led off the frame with a home run to leftfield.
In the second game of the doubleheader, the Falcons took an early 2-0 lead after scoring one run in the first and one in the second. Kelly registered a squeeze to score Brianna Whitfield (West Islip, N.Y.) from third.
The Falcons took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third thanks to an RBI single through the left side of the infield by junior Alyssa Puccilli (Milford, Conn.). Fortier scored on the play.
The Falcons' scored five runs in the sixth innings as Albertus hit for the cycle in the frame with an RBI single, double, triple and home run.
Brianna Spadacenta (East Haven, Conn.) recorded a two-run home run for the Falcons, the first home run of her career. Kelly tripled home another run in the inning before scoring on an RBI single from Amanda Jessey (East Haven, Conn.). Carli Matrisian (Milford, Conn.) capped the Falcons' scoring as she registered a double to score Jessey.
Megan Ferraro (Branford, Conn.) improved to 3-2 with the win as she went the distance, striking out four and allowing one run on seven hits.
Rivier's Jess Shanahan earned the loss to fall to 2-3 on the year. She allowed three runs on five hits in four innings, while Jordan Parece threw two innings, allowing five runs on five hits and two walked batters.
Spadacenta finished game two with a 2-for-2 performance and two RBI.
Albertus heads to Mt. St. Vincent on Monday to play a non-conference doubleheader against the Dolphins beginning at 3:30 p.m.
