Troy, NY –The Sage College's softball team racked up a convincing pair of wins on Sunday afternoon as the Gators took a pair from Skyline Conference opponent, Purchase College. Sage took game one, 10-0 and the nightcap, 9-1. Sage senior catcher Kristen Beikirch (Brockport, NY/Brockport) led off the day by connecting on her 200th career hit and started a Gator assault. She would come back to bat in the same inning and tallied a three run blast as tallied a home run in the same inning.
By days' end, Beikirch who is Sage's all-time hit leader now has 204 hits, while also holding the program's records for most runs scored 150 and stolen bases 60.
Sage improves to 12-10 overall and 6-2 in the league, while Purchase falls to 6-10 overall and 2-8 in the league.
For the first game, Sage pushed eight runs across the plate as the had six hits and scored their first four runs as rookie Alana Vandenburg (Wynantskill, NY/Columbia) had a grand slam. The inning wrapped with the three run shot by Beikirch.
Sage's sophomore pitcher Lindsay Brace (Moriah, NY/Moriah Central) got the win after three scoreless inning with a pair of strikeouts as she scattered three hits. Now 5-6, she got relief in the circle from rookie Rachael Lashway (Queensbury, NY/Glens Falls) who worked two scoreless innings with three strikeouts off one hit.
Purchase's junior pitcher Samantha Alonzo (Wappingers Falls, NY/Roy C. Ketcham) took the loss and falls to 4-3 after she gave up nine earned runs off nine hits with two strikeouts.
In the second game, Purchase struck first as rookie Shannon Clancy (Babylon, NY/West Babylon) had an RBI single in the first inning and gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead. Sage answered right back as Beikirch led off with a single and a pair of RBI sacrifice flies by junior pitcher Katie Kovage (Hoosick Falls, NY/Hoosick Falls Central) and Vandenburg gave Sage a 2-0 lead through one inning.
Sage tacked on six runs in the bottom of the third inning as Beikirch had a two RBI double and paced the offense as they collected two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. By game's end, Beikirch was 3-3 with two runs scored and four RBI's, while Vandenburg was 2-3 with four RBIs and a run scored. On the season, Sage's junior first baseman Morgan Dunn (Cohoes, NY/Cohoes) now has 21 RBIs to go with her .426 batting average, while Beikirch is batting .420 with a team-best 29 hits and is 7-7 on stolen bases.
Kovage collected the win after four innings with one earned run off two hits with four strikeouts. Kovage is now 5-3 on the season, while elevating her career victory mark to 26, which is No. 3 all-time at Sage. She has 156 career strikeouts which is No. 2 all-time.
Lashway finished the action in the circle for Sage with three strikeouts and one walk in her two innings of competition. Purchase's sophomore Nicole Fortuna (New Rochelle, NY/New Rochelle) took the loss and drops to 2-6 on the season after she allowed seven earned runs off 12 hits with two strikeouts and three walks.
Sage is back in action on April 14 travelling to Mt. St. Mary College for a 3 p.m. road Skyline Conference doubleheader.