FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Curry College softball team salvaged a split on its first day of the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic, falling to Coast Guard in an 11-1 final in five innings and then came through with a 6-5 extra-innings victory over Wilmington (Ohio).
Game One – Coast Guard 11, Curry 1 (Five Innings)
Coast Guard took the initial lead after freshman Mariah Dewey (Campbell, Calif.) scored on a failed pickoff attempt. Senior Courtney McKenna (Sparta, N.J.) followed with an RBI single to left field to gain the 2-0 lead.
Curry cut into the deficit in the third after sophomore Liana Duarte (Taunton, Mass.) singled to short and then advanced to second. On the same play, senior Caroline Johnson (Milton, Mass.) came around to score.
The Bears added to the advantage in the third after an RBI single to right field from freshman Katie Becker (Jacksonville, N.C.) to plate sophomore Maggie Perez (Granada Hills, Calif.). Freshman Kayla Yoshioka Montalvo (Lomita, Calif.) followed with a one-run single to send McKenna home.
Coast Guard put the clamps on the game with seven-run fourth inning. McKenna led off the scoring with a single to right to plate senior Sarah Kemp (Malone, N.Y.). In the next at-bat, senior Audrey Bartz (Arlington, Va.) drove in two with a single down the left field line. Yoshioka Montalvo singled to center to score a run and senior Kylie Vaverek (Plantation, Fla.) flied out to center for a sacrifice for another. The Bears would score twice more in the frame for the 11-1 final.
Senior Julia Ferris (Falls Church, Va.) registered the win in the circle, only allowing one run on one hit. She fanned six in five innings of work.
Junior Taylor Newcomb (Millville, Mass.) took the loss for the Colonels, surrendering 11 runs on 14 hits.
Game Two - Curry 6, Wilmington (Ohio) 5 (10 innings)
A walk-off walk led Curry past Wilmington (Ohio) in the second game of the day. With the score knotted at 5-5 in the bottom of the 10th, junior Jordan Perzan (Burlington, Conn.) delivered a single to left field to score classmate Jocelyn Dimond (Weare, N.H.) for the winning run.
The base paths were crowded all game as teams collected 10 hits apiece. Perzan led the way with three hits while Duarte and senior Michaela Colleran (East Bridgewater, Mass.) recorded two each.
After giving up a run in the top of the fourth, the Colonels answered back with three in the home half of the fifth to snag the lead. Duarte singled up the middle to score classmate Julia Price (Islip, N.Y.). Colleran had a base hit of her own to bring Duarte around while Dimond also scored in the frame.
The Quakers picked up two runs in the sixth to regain the lead. Senior KenDahl Bowles (Middletown, Ohio) connected on a single to right center to plate junior Alecia Kemp (Blanchester, Ohio) and freshman Brooke Durbin (Polk, Ohio).
After trading runs in the eighth, Wilmington (Ohio) grabbed a 6-5 lead in the top of the 10th.
Curry walked it off with a two-run single by Perzan to give the Colonels the 6-5 win.
Junior Carrigan Costello (Wolcott, Conn.) was credited with the complete-game victory. She allowed five runs on 10 hits while striking out three. Sophomore Alexis Stringfellow (Mount Vernon, Ohio) was tagged with the loss for the Quakers.
Curry (1-1 overall) returns to action against Martin Luther and Alfred State on Monday, March 9. Game times are at 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., respectively.
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