Game 1: Farmingdale State 1, Baruch 0 (9 inn.)
Game 2: Farmingdale State 9, Baruch 4
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. | A 6-for-7 day at the plate with a walk, three runs scored and five stolen bases by senior center fielder Priscilla Rivera (Brentwood, N.Y.) led the Farmingdale State College softball team to a doubleheader sweep Thursday afternoon against visiting Baruch College. The host Rams (9-8) won a nine-inning, 1-0 decision in the opener when Rivera scampered home on a suicide squeeze play, before they moved their winning streak to five games with a 9-4 victory in the nightcap against the Bearcats (8-8).
Game 1
The two sides were locked in a pitcher's duel between Baruch's Carly Quint and FSC sophomore righty Ava Shorr (No. Babylon, N.Y.), as each offense mustered four hits and a walk apiece. Both squads stranded a runner at third base in their respective fourth innings, while the hosts left a runner 60 feet away in the home half of the sixth, as well.
Baruch's defense got Quint out of trouble in the bottom of the eighth when the righty induced a pop-up double play with the potential winning run at third. However, the Rams picked up the breakthrough due to heads up baserunning by Rivera (3-for-3, 2B, BB, 4 SB). The senior led off the frame with a left-side infield single, before stealing her fourth bag of the contest. After moving 60 feet away from the plate on a fly out down the right-field line one batter later, Rivera scampered home and slid under the tag with the winning run on a suicide squeeze bunt by freshman designated player Samantha Stolfi (Pt. Jefferson Station, N.Y.).
Shorr retired the last 10 batters she faced to move to 5-4 in the circle this season, striking out five Bearcats to earn her first shutout of the campaign. Sophomore second baseman Alyssa Cowen (Garden City So., N.Y.) went 1-for-2 with a sacrifice in the contest for the Rams.
Game 2
Both offenses opened up in the nightcap, with the visitors picking up a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. FSC responded with a two-spot in its half of the frame, with junior right fielder Jenna Giliberti (Bellmore, N.Y.) and Rivera opening things up with back-to-back singles. Giliberti took third on Rivera's bunt single up the third-base line, with Rivera able to move to second on the play with indecision in the infield. Senior corner infielder Brooke Walker (Hampton Bays, N.Y.) drove in Giliberti on a squeeze bunt in the next at-bat, and allowed Rivera to score on the play when she was caught in between first and second bases.
Following a game-tying run by Baruch in the top of the second, Farmingdale State took the lead for good with a six-run bottom of the third frame. Walker drove in the go-ahead run when her sharp single to third base allowed Giliberti to give their side a 3-0 edge. Rivera and Walker came across the dish one batter later on Stolfi's two-run single through the left side. After a pitching change, Rams senior pitcher Allie Stanya (Manorville, N.Y.) helped herself by greeting the new Bearcats hurler with a two-run double to the left-center field gap, allowing classmate Angelina Capuano (Sayville, N.Y.) and freshman third baseman Christina Rodriguez (Vineland, N.J.) to score in upping the hosts' lead to 7-2. Stanya moved to third on a fly out to right one batter later, before completing FSC's scoring in the frame when she came home on a wild pitch.
Single runs in the fourth and seventh stanzas by Baruch sandwiched a one-run fifth by Farmingdale State, when Capuano and Rodriguez hit consecutive gap-shot doubles to left-center and right-center, respectively.
Rivera went 3-for-4 with a stolen base in the game, with Walker, Stolfi and Stanya each driving in a pair. Giliberti, Rivera and Capuano all scored two runs in support of Stanya, who moved to 4-4 on the season with a complete-game six-hitter while fanning seven.
Head coach Liz Pennino's team is back in Skyline Conference action on Saturday, when it plays host to SUNY Old Westbury in a noon doubleheader.