CLERMONT, Fla. – The Union College softball team opened their 2022 season with a 8-0 win over Curry College in five innings, before falling to the University of Chicago in eight innings 7-6 on Saturday, March 19.
Junior
Amanda Granato threw a one-hitter in her four innings of work while fanning four batters for her first win of the season in game one. Classmate
Tara Hartnett belted a 2-run home run in game two, to go along with her three RBIs over the two games for the Dutchwomen.
Game One: Union 8, Curry 0 (5 innings)
The Dutchwomen started the 2022 season opener off on the right foot, plating five runs in the opening frame. With two runners on base in the first inning, junior
Karson Saunders tripled to right field, scoring both junior
Anna Zdunczyk and senior
Julissa Malana. Classmate
Olivia Valery then doubled home Saunders extending the Union to 3-0. Valery eventually scored on a passed ball and senior
Julia Boule scored on a sac fly off the bat of first-year
Faith Hughes to add to the lead.
In the second inning Malana, crossed the plate following a wild pitch, while Hartnett singled in first-year
Nahnny Sobetzko in the third to push the Union lead to 7-0. Valery tallied her second RBI of the game on a double that plated Saunders in the fourth.
Granato (1-0) allowed one hit in four scoreless innings for the Dutchwomen to secure her first win of the season, striking out four batters. First-year
Jessie Rooney struck out all three batters she faced in the fifth inning to finish off the game.
Game Two: Chicago 7, Union 6 (8 innings)
Union was unable to hold off a comeback from the Maroons of the University of Chicago, falling in game two, 7-6 in eight innings.
Sobetzko gave Union the lead in the second inning by doubling to center and scoring Valery, who led off with a single. The Maroons answered in the third inning, plating three runs to take to a 3-1 lead.
The Chicago lead held until the sixth inning, when Union scored five times to regain the lead. Boule got the scoring started in the inning by singling in Saunders. Back-to-back singles by Sobetzko and Rooney helped score another run before Sobetzko came home on a passed ball to give Union a 4-3 lead. Hartnett then belted a 2-run home run over the left-field fence to give Union a 6-3 lead.
The lead did not last long, however, as the Maroons plated three runs in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game. After a scoreless seventh sent the game into extra innings, Union could not convert with a runner on second in the top of the eighth before Chicago scored on an error in the bottom half to complete the comeback.
Rooney (0-1) struck out nine batters in her seven innings of action, giving up three earned runs on eight hits in her first collegiate start.
Union (1-1) will get back on the field tomorrow against Manchester University and Colby College. Game one against Manchester is set to begin at 9 a.m.
