BOX SCORE
KINGSTON, R.I. – Jordan Haines, Peyton Fisher and Chelsey Mooney sparked the Hawks at the plate with two hits apiece, but for the second time this season, the University of Hartford softball team was unable to hold on to a late advantage and fell to the Rhode Island Rams by a final score of 6-5 in 10 innings on Wednesday.
The tail end of the scheduled doubleheader was played through the top of the fourth but was called off before it became an official game as a result of darkness.
With the score deadlocked at one run each through two innings of play, Hartford (0-3) broke away from Rhode Island (3-7) with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth and held on to that 3-1 advantage until the sixth frame.
Mooney got the bats going for the Hawks in that fourth inning when she led off the frame with a double. After junior Melani Maxwell worked a walk off of Sam Bedore, Margaret Betz, a rookie who pinch ran for Mooney, and Maxwell both moved into scoring position with no outs recorded, allowing a sacrifice fly out to right field from Jackie Kelly to plate Betz for the Hawks' second run of the game.
With two outs in the inning, Maxwell advanced from the hot corner and crossed home plate when Amber Andrews reached on an outfield error to make it a 3-1 game.
Kaitlyn Meade, a sophomore who earned the start inside of the circle for the Hawks, allowed just a single run while scattering four hits through five complete innings. Besides the opening run in the second inning, the hurler did not run in to any jams until the bottom of the sixth inning.
Jenna Newborn opened the stanza with a lead-off walk but things looked good for the Hawks as the next two batters were retired following infield fly-outs. Courtney Prendercast, however, changed that quickly as she connected on a pitch that she liked and belted out a home run, tying the game for just the second time at 3-3. After Stacey Fox followed up with a base hit to center field, rookie Ana Alberti took over the pitching duties. Rhode Island managed to load up the bases but the freshman pitched her way out of trouble as she struck out Brittany Julich for the final out in the inning.
After trading zeroes in the seventh inning, neither team was unable to scratch across the plate in two extra frames. Hartford managed to get one runner to third base in the eighth inning as Kate Wacyk stole third base from second, but the Rams put down the final two Hawks in the frame to prevent a run from reaching the scoreboard.
In the top of the 10th, the Hawks plated a pair of runs and took a 5-3 lead. Erica Phelps started the frame on second base and following a pop-up in the infield, Devynne Butler worked a walk in her at-bat. Wacyk then smacked a double, scoring Phelps from second, and Haines loaded up the bases after earning another walk off of the Rams.
That set the scene for Fisher, who notched an RBI single to score Butler while keeping the bases juiced with still one out. Following a Rhode Island pitching change, the Hawks would remain scoreless for the remainder of the inning as the Rams recorded the final outs on fielder's choices.
Rhode Island responded in its final at-bats however as with one out, Jocelyn Mattison launched a home run to right field, also plating Amy Gleason who was placed at second base to start the frame, and Prendergast followed suit in the next at-bat with a walk-off solo home run to end the game at 6-5.
Hartford continues its busy week when it heads south to Fairfax, Va. for the George Mason Invitational, which features five games over the span of three days. The Hawks kick-off the Invitational with a single game against the Pioneers, the host team, on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
