Photo by Pauline Park
The Roadrunners looked to send off their seniors on a high note when they hosted the William Paterson Pioneers in a double-header on Senior Day. They lost the first game of the double-header 3-0, but they bounced back to win game two, 6-5.
William Paterson got on the scoreboard immediately in the top of the first inning of game one, when junior Rachel Wasilak scored on a squeeze play. Wasilak led off the game earlier in the inning with a single to center. Then, the Pioneers tacked on another run in the top of the fifth inning when senior Kelsey Wimmershoff smashed a single to center to drive in junior Salina Pellios from third.
The score remained 2-0 until the top of the seventh inning. After Wimmershoff doubled to center with one out, and freshman Jillian Bainbridge struck swinging while pinch-hitting for senior Tracy Geller, Wasilak hit a two-out double to left with Wimmershoff scoring from second on the play. That rounded out the scoring for game one, as junior Allison Podmajersky earned the win for William Paterson to improve her record to 15-2 on the year, as she pitched a complete game shutout, while allowing just three hits, walking three and striking out two.
Sophomore Katrina Buczkowski took the complete game loss, as her record dropped to 7-5 on the season. Buczkowski allowed three runs on eight hits, one walk and three strikeouts. Although Buczkowski kept the Roadrunners in the game, they were unable to muster much offense.
In game two, the Roadrunners scored three runs in the bottom of the third inning. After junior Grace Brennan led off the inning with a single to left, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by freshman Harper Patsko and then advanced to third on a single by sophomore Ally Spellman, fellow sophomore Christina Brizek, who was the game’s starting pitcher for the Roadrunners, brought Brennan home on an RBI groundout for the game’s first run. Three batters later, senior Danielle Saporito hit a two-out, two-run single to score fellow senior Mikayla Melendez and Spellman for a 3-0 lead.
However, William Paterson answered back with four runs in the top of the fourth inning, as junior Nicole Fryer smashed a base-clearing, three-run double to tie the game at three. Two batters later, junior Nicole Fryer put the Pioneers ahead with an RBI single to right, scoring Kim Fryer from second. The score remained 4-3 in favor of William Paterson until the bottom of the fifth inning when the Roadrunnners scored three more runs.
After Melendez hit a one-out single to center, Walling hit a go-ahead two-run home run to put the Roadrunners up 5-4. Four batters later, Brennan singled to center to score sophomore Shannon Cox for a 6-4 lead. Kim Fryer put William Paterson one run closer in the top of the seventh inning, as she hit an RBI single to right to score Podmajersky, but that was not enough, as the Roadrunners held on to win.
Brizek earned the win for the Roadrunners, as she pitched a complete game while allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits.
After splitting three straight double-headers, Ramapo swept Kean on Tuesday by scores of 9-1 and 8-4.
“The sweep against Kean was huge for us, considering we have not been playing our best and we have not been consistent all season,” said head coach Bridgette Quimpo. “We saw signs of the team we know we can be yesterday, specifically offensively.”
With eight games left before the NJAC Tournament, Quimpo knows it’s time to heat up.
“Obviously these games are big at this point. The NJAC is really competitive and any team can beat anybody on any given day,” said Quimpo. “If we take care of our process, we will play our best ball at the right time.”
The Roadrunners will face off in an NJAC double-header against the Montclair State University Red Hawks in Montclair on Saturday.
pmcguire@ramapo.edu
