SEAN MCGRATH
Sports Editor
With six games originally on the slate for women’s softball, Fredonia got a break on Wednesday, when two games in Alfred, NY, were postponed.
During the weekend, the ladies faced the now third place Oneonta Red Dragons in a doubleheader on Friday, followed by another double-header against New Paltz on Saturday.
On Friday, Fredonia struck for one run each in the second and third inning and preserved the lead for the rest of the game, taking a 2-0 win against the Dragons.
Senior pitcher Kelsey Gannett improved to 7-3 on the season, pitching seven innings in the shutout effort. Gannett allowed five hits and walked three, while striking out five in the process.
Fredonia’s bats picked up seven hits in the first game, with junior second base Lindsey Forness and freshman left fielder Nikki Lent collecting two hits apiece. Those efforts were followed up by one hit games from senior right fielder Kate Nicholson, junior shortstop Alyssa Morgan and junior Madeline Medina.
Forness and Medina both were credited with RBIs, bringing in Forness in the second and Lent in the third to lead 2-0.
Fredonia was not able to continue its successes going into the second game, falling 10-2 in a five inning affair.
Game two did not go the way that game one did, as Oneonta’s offense woke up and collected 13 hits off of a collective pitching effort from freshman Megan Degroat and junior Aldyn Carlson, who pitched four and one innings, respectively.
Degroat would be given the loss on the day.
Offensively, Fredonia could not continue its efforts from the last game, only getting four hits total.
Getting the hits for Fredonia were Forness, Morgan, sophomore catcher Maddy Stavish and senior Jess Lauck, with one each.
Trying to shake off the loss going into Saturday, Fredonia responded quite well, downing the New Paltz Hawks 4-2 in game one. Gannett was the winning pitcher, yet again, pitching all seven innings, allowing seven hits, one walk and two runs.
Fredonia’s batters were alive and well for game one, with Fredonia earning 10 hits opposed to New Paltz’s seven.
Leading the offense was freshman third-baseman Kaitlyn Dennis and Lent with two hits. Nicholson, Morgan, Lauck, Medina, freshman center-fielder Maggie Paras and freshman left-fielder Lauren Pixley earned one hit each.
However, game two was a mirror image of Friday, when Fredonia fell in a shootout, 13-6, on game two of Saturday.
Fredonia rotated through three pitchers, starting with Degroat, Carlson and finishing with Gannett.
Despite 12 hits, Fredonia gave up 22 hits to the visiting Hawks.
Medina led all batters with three hits, followed by Lauck, Forness and Paras with two hits. Nicholson, senior first-baseman Cherise Gunnell and sophomore third-baseman Erin Mushtare contributed one hit.
Fredonia finishes off regular season play this week, with double-header matchups against Brockport on Wednesday, April 22 starting at 3 p.m., D’youville College on Friday, April 24 and Buffalo State on Saturday, April 25, to wrap up SUNYAC play and prepare for the playoffs.