The Albertus Magnus softball team swept its third-straight Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) doubleheader with a pair of wins over Mount Ida College on Saturday afternoon in New Haven. The Falcons took game one 4-1 before coming-from-behind to win game two, 10-4. After today's victories, the Falcons' honored their two seniors as well.
The Falcons have now won seven straight and 13 of their last 14 contests.
The Falcons' 21 victories this season mark the most in a single-season for the Falcons in over a decade as the Falcons finished the 2002 season with 23, the most in program history. Albertus is now 15-4 in league play, the most for the program since finishing the 2002 regular season with a 20-7 record in the GNAC standings.
Albertus controlled play in game one thanks to two hits from both Carli Matrisian (Milford, Conn.) and Brianna Whitfield (West Islip, N.Y.). Whitfield went 2-for-3 with one run scored, while Matrisian was 2-for-2 with two RBI.
Albertus scored early with a run in the first inning as Matrisian knocked in Whitfield for the Albertus run. The Falcons added two in the third before tallying another in the fifth inning to take a 3-0 lead. In the fifth, a sacrifice fly out gave the Falcons a 4-0 led before Mount Ida's Hayley Microulis singled through the right side to score the Mustangs first run of the game.
Megan Ferraro (Branford, Conn.) earned the win to improve to 8-3 on the year. She went 5.1 innings, allowed one run and allowed four hits.
The Mustangs' Nicole Handzel threw all six innings as she gave up four runs on eight hits to go along with three strikeouts.
In game two, Mount Ida held a 3-0 lead after 2.5 innings before a six-run fourth inning secured the eventual Albertus victory.
With the score 3-1 heading into the bottom of the fourth, a three-run triple by Rachel Catuadella (Shelton, Conn.) gave Albertus a 4-3 advantage. Alyssa Puccilli (Milford, Conn.) followed with an RBI single up the middle as she later scored on another Mustangs' miscue.
Fortier led the team in the contest with a 2-for-4 outing with three RBI and one scored. Puccilli went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and one RBI.
Albertus' late scoring rally took place in the sixth when Fortier homered to left field to extend the Falcons' lead to 9-3. The Falcons added one more run in the fifth before posting two in the sixth inning.
Samantha Maselli (Rockville Centre. Conn.) threw the complete-game as she struck out four, walked three, gave up five hits as well as two earned runs. With the victory, she improved to 12-3 on the year as her 12 wins are the most in the GNAC.
Mount Ida's Kaitlyn Muhlenforth went 6.0 innings, allowed six earned runs, three walks and nine hits.
