4-2 box 9-5 box
BUFFALO, NY – After a trip to McCarthy Park in North Buffalo, the Hilbert College softball team traveled back to Hamburg with a split decision over Medaille College in AMCC play April 17. The Hawks gave up a 9-5 loss in the night cap, but took a 4-2 win from the Mavericks, beating them in league play for the first time since the 2006 season. Senior Jill Martucci (in photo to right) had three hits (.429) and scored three runs to lead the Hawks as they improved to 4-10 good for eighth place in the AMCC. With the loss, Medaille dropped to 3-9 (5-24 overall) and now sit in ninth place in league standings.
Medaille jumped out to a 2-1 lead after three innings of play in the early game. Emili Ripley knocked Martucci in for the tying run in the top of the 5th before the Hawks capped the game with two more runs in the top of the seventh inning earned off three Medaille errors. Hilbert finished with five hits and three errors while Medaille earned 11 hits and six errors. Martucci led the Hawks with two hits and two runs and Halsey Baker earned the second Hilbert RBI. Devan Jonathan went seven innings to grab her fifth win of the season.
Starting the second game with four errors in the first inning, the Hawks quickly found themselves down 5-0 heading into the top of the second. With good defensive coverage, the Mavericks faced only four Hawk batters before they swung the bats again. Putting three more runs on the board, Medaille held an 8-0 lead and carried that through to the middle of the seventh. Hilbert earned one run in the third, another in the fourth and three at the top of the sixth, but they were blanked their last at–bats and took the loss.
Kateland Ball went 2 for 4 (one double), earning the team’s two RBIs and Baker finished with two hits (one double), and two runs. Martucci earned the games only triple in the fifth inning but was stranded there after the fourth batter. Jonathon relieved Ripley (three strikeouts) early in the game and threw the last a 4.1 game in the circle giving up four hits and one run with two strike outs. Hilbert was credited with six errors, five of them occurred in the first two innings when Medaille jumped to the 8 run lead.
Up next for Hilbert is another AMCC game at home against Greensburg (9-5, 16-12) April 21. (The Morrisville game scheduled for April 20th has been cancelled due to a rescheduling conflict for Morrisville.) After the Senior Day celebration Saturday, the Hawks’ final game is April 25 against D’Youville College with first pitch at 3pm in Hamburg.