BOSTON, Mass. - The Albertus Magnus College softball team saw its postseason run come to an end on Saturday morning at Roberto Clemente Field as the Falcons came up short to the Monks of Saint Joseph College of Maine by a final score of 5-3 in the semifinal-elimination game of the 2022 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament.
The Falcons conclude the 2022 spring season with an overall record of 29-11, while the Monks improve to 19-17 and advance to the second semifinal-elimination game against the winner of Simmons University and the University of Saint Joseph's (Conn.) game.
Peyton Davis (North Haven, Conn.) led the Falcons at the plate with a pair of hits, while Jess Stettinger (East Haven, Conn.), Kayla Resto (Shelton, Conn.), and Madison LaBossiere (Griswold, Conn.) tallied a hit each.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: #3N Saint Joseph's College 5 | #1S Albertus Magnus 3
RECORDS: Albertus Magnus (29-11) | Saint Joseph's College (19-17)
LOCATION: Roberto Clemente Field
HOW IT HAPPENED
In the top of the third, the Falcons broke the scoreless game, posting one run off one hit, and a Monk error. Despite a leadoff groundout to third, LaBossiere got things started for the Falcons tallying her second triple of the spring campaign and capitalizing on an error by the second basemen that allowed her to cross home. However, back-to-back outs ended the half-inning with the Falcons leading by one, 1-0.
Albertus' one-run advantage did not last long as the Monks evened the game at 1-1 following a one-out, RBI single from Olivia Howe. Saint Joseph's continued to threaten the Falcons in the bottom half of the third with Howe on first, but Falcon starter Erin Dighello (Wallingford, Conn.) forced a pop-up to the shortstop and fly out to right field to end the inning and leave the lead-runner on base.
Following a 1-2-3 inning by the Falcons in the top of the fourth, Saint Joseph's plated a run in the bottom half of the inning to take its first lead of the day, 2-1. Lydia Goodnough started off the frame with a leadoff single before finding herself on second for Taylor Owen, who singled to left field to allow Goodnough to score for the Monks.
The Falcons began to pick up the momentum in the top of the fifth by putting runners on first and third with no outs on the scoreboard. A sacrifice bunt from Karissa Kerrs (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) advanced Resto, who was at first, to second, while Davis remained at third. On the groundout from LaBossiere, Davis waited for the right time to make her move and safely made it home to even the game at 2-2.
Saint Joseph's erased the 2-2 tie with a three-run lead, 5-2, after scoring three runs off five hits in the bottom of the fifth to take its second lead of the day. The inning was highlighted by a pair of RBI singles from Bailey Rassol and Paige Connery as well as an RBI double from Goodnough.
Despite Albertus starting off the top of the sixth with back-to-back outs, Stettinger kept the blue-and-white alive at the plate tallying her seventh home run of the season and cutting the Monks' lead down to two, 5-3. Ava Gladwin (Guilford, Conn.) then battled in the box against the Monk starter Meredith Pence by forcing a two-out walk, but Davis fouled out to the catcher to send both teams back to their dugouts.
Unfortunately, the Falcons were unable to get a rally going in the top of the seventh, despite forcing the Monks to go down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the sixth and went down 1-2-3 to end the game.
TOP PERFORMERS
- WP: Meredith Pence (W, 10-7) - 7.0 Innings | 5 Hits | 3 Runs | 1 Walks | 6 Strikeouts
- LP: Erin Dighello (L, 15-5) - 6.0 Innings | 11 Hits | 5 Runs | 0 Walks | 0 Strikeouts
- Dighello threw her ninth complete game of 2022 for the Falcons.
- Davis finished with a team-leading two hits to go along with a run scored.
- Stettinger and LaBossiere each collected an RBI.
- Saint Joseph's had four players record two or more hits.
NOTEWORTHY
- Today's postseason game was the first match-up of the 2022 season between the Falcons and Monks.
- This was the fourth all-time postseason meeting between the two programs.
