NAPLES, Fla. – The Curry College softball team started the year on a high note, earning an 11-6 victory over the Alfred State Pioneers in Naples, Fla. as a part of the Gene Cusic Classic. With the win, the Colonels start the year 1-0 while the Pioneers fall to 1-2.

The Colonels jumped out early in this one, registering 7 first inning runs despite just two hits. Jocelyn Dimond (Weare, N.H.) got the offense started with a one out walk, scoring soon after on an Alexis Buckner (Foxborough, Mass.) RBI double. Curry took advantage of their opponents' mistakes, pushing across a pair of runs on bases loaded walks before putting up their fourth run of the day on a wild pitch. With a couple of runners in scoring position and a new arm on the mound, Curry pitcher Allison May (West Bridgewater, Mass.) helped her own cause before throwing a single pitch, driving in two more runs with a two out single. May would score after three straight walks to make it a 7-0 game heading into the bottom of the first.

Alfred St. managed to get one back thanks to a Marissa Varela (Egg Harbor Township, N.J.) RBI single, but May sat down the Pioneer offense by striking out Brianna Dittman (Brooklyn, N.Y.) to end the first. The Colonels' offense slowed since their early onsalught, but reinstated the seven run lead at 8-1 after Talia Forte (North Scituate, R.I.) drove home Jordan Perzan (Burlington, Conn.) as Curry continued to take advantage, this time capitalizing on a pair of Pioneer defensive errors. After Michaela Colleran (East Bridgewater, Mass.) picked up her first RBI of the year in the top of the third to make the Curry lead 9-1, the bats for both teams hit a lull, staying scoreless into the bottom of the fifth.

The Pioneers pulled to within five by scoring three runs in the fifth, thanks to a Varela single which brought in three runners, including herself, after the Colonels suffered through a pair of throwing errors on the play. Another May RBI in the top of the sixth made the score 10-4, before a Taylor Newcomb (Millville, Mass.) sac fly the following inning would score Dimond and make it 11-4. Faced with the seven run deficit heading into the bottom of the seventh, the Pioneers made some noise as Arianna Traugott (Elmira, N.Y.) hit the only homer of the game, scoring herself and Varela, who had singled to start the inning. However, the 11-6 score would stand to be the final, as Newcomb sat down the next three Alfred St. batters, striking out all three swinging, to secure the victory for Curry.

Perzan headed the Colonel offense, going 3-for-5 and scoring a pair of runs. Dimond crossed the plate three times, while May collected three RBI while registering three strikeouts in 4.1 innings on the mound. Newcomb picked up the win, pitching 2.2 innings in relief, which included five K's. Varela led the Pioneers by going 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored while Traugott hit the game's only home run. Traugott also posted a trio of strikeouts and surrendered just three earned runs over 6.1 innings of relief while Jordan Leonard (Lancaster, N.Y.) suffers the loss.

Both teams will return to action later this morning to continue their slate of Florida games. Curry will face Nazareth College, remaining at North Collier Regional Park field #2 for the match-up. Alfred St. remains at North Collier as well but moves over to field #1 to go up against Kenyon College.

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