NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — The Ithaca College softball team opened its 2023 season with a doubleheader in the Fastpitch Dreams Spring Classic, dropping the first game to The College of New Jersey, and winning in walk off style against Stevenson University.
Riley Piromalli took the mound for the Bombers against the Lions' Elizabeth Gosse, who entered the game with a 1–0 record with 2.1 innings pitched and only one hit allowed. The Lions got on the board early in the bottom of the first, with Julia Mayernik getting a bunt single that scored Kaci Neveling. Jaclyn Carifi brought in two more runs with a double, and Ashley O'Hagan capped the inning off with an RBI to give the Lions a 4–0 lead.
The Bombers would respond in the top of the third with a two-out rally, as
Sela Scheinman would keep the inning alive with a double and bring home
Olivia Comolli, and
Hudson Hassler followed that up with an RBI single to cut the Lions lead in half. However, the Bombers offense went quiet after the third, and the Lions would extend their lead in the bottom of the fifth. Neveling began the run with a double and would advance to third on the next at bat. Mayernik was walked and stole second base after getting on, and Julia Kinnally hit a bases clearing triple to put the Lions back up by four runs. Carifi grounded out in the next at bat, but it would be enough to bring Kinnally home and make it a 7–2 ball game.
The Bombers managed just a hit in each of their last cracks at tying the game and would fall 7–2 in their season opener. The Bombers had six hits and left four runners on base, and Piromalli would finish with 6.0 innings pitched, seven hits, seven earned runs, and seven strikeouts.
In the second game against Stevenson, it was
Anna Cornell for the Bombers vs. Marissa Heuer for the Mustangs. Each team started the game with runners on base, as Cornell was able to strand two runners on base for the Mustangs, and Hassler and Scheinman each got on base in the bottom of the first. It was a quiet second inning, as both teams went three up, three down. Both offenses would have a hard time beating the pitchers, as neither team would record more than one hit in an inning in the game. The game would need extra innings, as both teams were locked in a 0–0 tie. Cornell would escape the eighth inning, leaving the Mustangs' potential go-ahead run on third base. In the bottom of the eighth,
Kailey Collins started on second, and advanced to third after a passed ball in the second at bat of the inning.
Allison Dell'Orto was up next and hit an RBI single to earn the walk off win for the Bombers.
The Bombers had six hits and five runners left on base, while Cornell would shut down the Mustangs with 8.0 innings pitched, only two hits, and nine strikeouts. The win was also the first victory for interim head coach
Kelly Robichaud, who took over on July 11, 2022. Ithaca College start the season 1–1 and will play another doubleheader tomorrow afternoon against Wilson College and McDaniel College.
