Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
SCHENECTADY, NY -- Sophomore catcher Nina Cervini hit a two out, walk off homer in the opener and senior pitcher Tiffany Ippoliti won both games as the Union College softball team swept Utica by scores of 5-4 and 7-3 Wednesday at Alexander Field.
Junior second baseman Callee Heywood had three hits in each game for the Dutchwomen, now 13-5. Freshman shortstop Jaclyn Gallagher (Cortlandt Manor, NY) had two hits in each game for the Pioneers, who are now 8-12,.
Ippoliti improved to 6-2 after the second victory. In the opener, she came in and pitched 2 2/3 innings of relief, not allowing a base runner while striking out three. Union scored in the first on a bases loaded walk and led 2-0 after an RBI single by Heywood in the second. But freshman first baseman Bridgette Plummer (Saratoga Springs, NY) hit a three run homer to center to stake the Pioneers to a 3-2 lead in the top of the third. Utica made it 4-2 on an RBI single by Gallagher in the fifth.
The Dutchwomen pulled to within one at 4-3 when Allie Sirrine hit a sacrifice fly to left in the bottom of the sixth. In the home seventh, Heywood singled to right with one out. After a fly out to right, Cervini blasted her first homer of the season over the left field wall for the walk off win.
Stephanie Romanow (New Hartford, NY) took the complete game loss, allowing four earned runs and eight hits. Heywood had three of Union's eight hits while Gallagher and Plummer each had two of the Pioneers' six hits.
Ippoliti got the start in the nightcap was staked to a 7-1 lead through four innings. She gave up four hits and one earned run with five strikeouts in four innings before getting rest with the large lead. Sirrine hit a homer in the two-run second inning and Ashley Kovack hit a three-run shot in the four-run fourth stanza. Along with Heywood's three hits, Union got two hits each from Sirrine, Becky Gronczniak, and Kovack.
Utica threatened to get closer in the top of the sixth. The Pioneers scored one run and had the bases loaded with two outs. Plummer hit a deep fly to right field but Gronczniak made a diving catch just in front of the fence to end the inning. Starter Madison Dinsmore (Theresa, NY) gave up seven earned runs and 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings.
Union is back home Saturday for a 1 p.m. twinbill vs. the College of Staten Island.
