May 1, 2011

Box Score Gm. 1
Box Score Gm. 2

The Lehman softball team will head into this week's opening round of the CUNYAC Championships feeling pretty good about itself after finishing the regular season by winning three of its remaining four games, including a split of a doubleheader against host College of St. Elizabeth on Saturday afternoon.

The Lightning dropped the opener of the Saturday double dip 14-6 before coming from behind to take the second game 11-9.

It was a familiar foe – one big inning – that damaged the Lightning in the first game as the host Eagles scored 10 runs on six hits in the bottom of the third to break open what had been a 1-0 game in favor of Lehman. Sophomore Kelly O'Dell collected three RBI in the inning with a pair of doubles while senior Jenna Stumpf and freshman Erica Reid each drove in two.

Lehman would score five runs over its last two innings, getting a two-run double from Melanie Dones in the process, but the Lightning could not keep St. Elizabeth off the board as it scored four runs of its own to halt the game after five innings.

The visitor's 10-hit attack was paced by three players who each slammed a pair of hits – Lakeisha Gordon, Genesis Batista and Toni Angel Puya. Freshman Nicole Pinero blasted a triple to lead off the fifth and later came around to score.

In the first inning of the second game, the Lightning continued to wield hot bats, taking a quick 2-0 lead thanks to hits by Pinero, Puya, and Dones – for Dones an RBI double – and a wild pitch by St. Elizabeth starter Alexandria Gooding that scored Pinero.

The lead would prove to be short lived as the Eagles came right back in their half of the first with five runs on five hits as a see-saw affair took hold.

After scoring single runs in the second and third, Lehman regained the lead with two runs in the fourth. The Lightning actually could have had more, but Pinero was thrown out at the plate trying to score on Jelsey Cox's RBI base hit.

Single runs in the fourth and fifth by St. Elizabeth gave the lead back to the Eagles at 7-6.

In the top of the sixth Lehman used a run-scoring wild pitch by Gooding and then an error by Stumpf at third base to pull ahead 8-7. But true to the first five innings of the game, the Lightning's lead was fleeting, as the Eagles scored two in the sixth for the 9-8 advantage.

Not to be denied, Lehman broke through with three runs in the seventh on run-scoring hits by Puya and Dones and an RBI fielder's choice by Yatnery Almonte.

Down to their final chance, the Lightning got a huge play from Puya, playing catcher for the first time this season, as she gunned down Stumpf trying to steal second after having earned a one-out walk. Gordon then retired Alicia Arroyo on a pop up to finish the victory.

Following its 10-hit performance in Game 1, the Lightning pounded out 13 hits in the second game, highlighted by strong games from Dones (2-for-3, 2 RBI), Batista (2-for-4), Puya (2-for-4), Cox (2-for-5) and Pinero (3-for-4). For Dones, the three hits and four RBI collected on the day were her first of the season in both categories.  Almonte's three RBIs were her first of the season as well.