Purchase Softball Splits at Old Westbury

The Panthers played four games on the weekend, wrapping with a split on Sunday at Old Wesbury. Photo is credited to Purchase College.

Old Westbury, NY – A day after taking a step back on the road at Mount Saint Mary, Purchase took a step forward Sunday in splitting with conference foe Old Westbury in another road series.

Purchase won the opener 7-5 and dropped the finale 12-4, earning a split at OW's Jackie Robinson Athletic Complex.

Old Westbury jumped ahead in the second inning with three unearned runs off Purchase starter Samantha Alonzo (SR/Wappingers Falls, NY). A fielding error allowed the first two runs to score followed by Gabriella Valdes' RBI single pushed Krysta Flareau across for the 3-0 lead.

Kaite Skelly's (2-for-4) RBI single scored Katie Rizzo in the third to extend Old Westbury's lead to
4-0.

Purchase answered in the fourth with five unearned runs on four errors and two hits off OW starter Amanda Fucci (3-9, 7 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 2 ER, BB, 3 K).

Purchase rookie Lisa Kentris (FR/Latham, NY) continued her phenomenal freshman campaign. Her two-out RBI single gave the visitors a 6-4 lead in the fifth. Kentris finished by going 2-for-4, with two RBI and a run scored in the win.

Rizzo made it a 6-5 game in the sixth with a two-out RBI to score Otilia Bernal. 

Alonzo settled the scoring in the seventh with a sacrifice fly for the 7-5 final.

In game two, Kelly Hayes' (2-for-3, R) RBI single ignited Purchase's 2-0 lead on Fucci (4-9, 6 IP, 6 H, 4 R, BB, 3 K) in the first inning. Hayes (FR/Staten Island, NY) was the star offensively in game two for Purchase.

Old Westbury replied in the bottom of the frame with Samantha Scharff's (4-for-4, 2 RBI, 2 R, 2 2B) two-run single to tie the game off Nicole Fortuna (JR/New Rochelle, NY) (8-4, 5.1 UP, 12 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 3 BB, 3 K).

Tara Stiansen (SR/Hampton Bays, NY) singled home Shannon Clancy (SO/Babylon, NY) for the tie breaking run to give Purchase a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning. Two batters later, Hayes doubled in Stiansen for the 4-2 advantage.

Old Westbury collected four hits to take a 6-4 lead in the fifth.  Flareau opened with a run-scoring sacrifice fly to score Skelly (2-for-2, 2 R, 2 BB).  Scharff then scored off a throwing error by Fortuna.

Valdes (3-for-5, 2 RBI, 2 R) followed with a RBI triple and then scored off a passed ball.

Brittany Chernoff singled home Skelly to spark Old Westbury's five-run sixth inning to put the game away for the run-rule win.

-OW Sports Information Contributed to this report