GAME #1 BOX SCORE
GAME #2 BOX SCORE
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The University of Hartford softball team took two games from the Siena Saints on Thursday afternoon in non-conference action at the UH Softball Field. The Hawks picked up a 4-1 win in game one before igniting for a 9-3 victory in the nightcap.
The Hawks improve to 13-8 on the season while the Saints drop to 4-25 overall on the season. Kate Wacyk combined for a career day finishing 2-for-5 at the plate. The rookie scored four times.
Brittney Stratton and Siera Sheehan put together a pair of complete games to help the Hawks to the mid-week sweep. Stratton improved to 7-3 with her game one win. She scattered three hits and allowed just one unearned run to pick up her 53rd win, a program-best. Sheehan strung together one of her best performances of the season in game two. The sophomore threw five scoreless innings and fanned five Saints while allowing just three earned runs on 10 hits.
Hartford drew blood first in the afternoon's opening game with a single run in the second inning and cushioned its lead in the fourth with a three-run fourth inning rally. The Saints managed just one run off Stratton in the fifth, who retired five of the final six batters to close out the game.
The Hawks manufactured its first run on a pair of hits in the fourth. Wacyk notched a dribble down the middle of the infield for the first hit of the game. Ann Kyzer followed with a long ball out the warning track but Siena's Lindsey McKeever chased it out for the second down. Senior Sara Messinger stepped up and roped her fourth double of the season deep enough to allow the speedy Wacyk to swing around third and cross the plate for the game's first run.
Kyzer fired a double down the left field line in the bottom of the third to drive in a pair of runs and trotted across home plate on a passed ball to improve the Hawks' lead to 4-1.
The Hawks struck first in game two with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second. With Rachel Clonick and Wacyk on the corners, Jordan Haines launched an RBI single to plate the game's first run. With the bases loaded, Melani Maxwell drove in the final run of the frame.
Hartford added a single run in the bottom of the fourth to increase its lead to 3-0. Following a lead-off walk issued to Olivia Piacentini, the Hawks used a double by Jordan Haines and a single by Erica Phelps to plate the frame's first batter. Hartford managed to load up the bases with no outs in the inning, but two-straight plays at the plate and an infield pop-out got hurler Amanda Filippazzo out of the jam with minimal damage.
The Saints disrupted Sheehan's shutout with a pair of runs to the scoreboard in the sixth however the Hawks damaged the scoreboard with six runs of their own in the bottom of the stanza to put the game out of reach at 9-2.
Hartford sent nine batters to the plate in the inning. Shannon Simpkins led off with an outfield hit to shallow left field and reached scoring position on a bunt single by Jessica Oliveira. Simpkins moved up 60 feet on a sac fly and scooted home on a liner to left field off the bat of Clonick. A passed ball allowed Oliveira to coast across the plate to improve Hartford's lead to 5-2. Haines wrapped up the scoring with two down when she launched her first career grand slam over the left center field fence.
Haines finished 3-for-4 at the plate to lead the Hawks. The catcher knocked in five runs and scored once. For the Saints, Lindsey McKeever went 3-for-4 and knocked in one run. Fillippazzo threw six innings, allowing nine runs – eight earned – on nine hits. The sophomore fanned five Hawks.
The Hawks return to America East action with a road trip to Long Island to face Stony Brook in a three-game series. First pitch of the series is scheduled for Saturday, April 10 at 12:00 p.m.
