Today: Mar 28, 2024

Softball’s walk-off win

Morgan DouglasSports Editor

Owls’ softball won both games of a doubleheader this past Sunday against the College of Saint Rose Golden Knights. 

They got the job done with pitching in game one and dramatic offensive fireworks in game twowhich lead to a walk-off hit, and their record now sits at 10-12 for the season. 

“Our strength is our support for each other,” Pitcher Jessica Perucki, a junior, said, “We all have each other’s backs and do a really good job of supporting each other in doing our own jobs.” 

Perucki was the story in game one, as she threw a complete game and earned the 3-1 win while also helping her own cause on offense, driving in the first run of the day with an RBI double in the bottom of the first inning. 

“I love being able to help on both sides of the field.” Perucki said. “I mean even in that at-bat, I was just thinking, there’s a runner in scoring position, I’ve got to put it in play and get that run to score.” 

Outfielder Liz DeRosa, a senior, batted in the second run of the inning, and that would be all the run support Perucki needed as she surrendered just one run over seven innings. 

In the bottom of the sixth inning, catcher Jacqueline Dumont, a senior, homered to left center, to make it 3-1, she leads the team in dingers. 

“I went up to bat and I tried to just get a hit and if it goes, it goes and it went.” Dumont said. “I felt it off the bat, as soon as it went off. It wasn’t just like a fly ball, it was a line drive, it felt really nice off the bat, and I knew it was a homerun.” 

3-1 was the final score of game one after Perucki vanquished the Golden Knights in the top of the seventh. 

“It was a lot of curveballs.” Perucki said. “My curveball was working really well. The screwball was working pretty good too and even if I didn’t have my best stuff today, our defense was clean, and they had my back.” 

First baseman Jayden Delaporta, a graduate student, was the story of game two. 

After going 1-for-3 with a run scored in game one, Delaporta came out and torched the Golden Knights in game two, going a perfect 4-for-4 including a two-run homerun and the walk-off base hit. 

“I’m really confident at the plate right now,” Delaporta said, “I trust the people around me and I feel really good.” 

If you could count the double from game one, she hit for the cycle on the day. 

Delporta hit a triple in the bottom of the first inning in game two and Dumont drove her in. 

She then drove in her first run of the game after a single in the third inning. 

In the fifth inning, she crushed a ball to left center field which left the yard in a hurry. 

The home run put the Owls up 5-2 at the time, but the Golden Knights came storming back in the late innings to tie the score 5-5 on the way to the bottom of the seventh inning. 

Outfielder Emily Lange, a sophomore, hit a double which was nearly caught by the left fielder on what would have been a great play, but instead opened the door for late-game heroics in a pressure-filled spot for Delaporta. 

“I love them. It used to make me so nervous, and now, this is my fifth year, I live for those big pressure moments,” Delaporta said, “Em Lange was on third and I just knew that I had to put the ball in play and get her in and end this game today.” 

And end it she did. A base hit through the left side of the infield was all it took to send the Owls and their fans home happy. 

“I was pumped,” Delaporta said, “I was excited. I was like, okay let’s go, let’s go home. It’s cold out.” 

The Owls will look to carry their momentum into Monday’s home doubleheader against Le Moyne. 

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