Kovage tosses perfect game on Senior Day; Gators fall in nightcap

Kovage tosses perfect game on Senior Day; Gators fall in nightcap

Troy, NY–The Sage Colleges' softball team hosted the Dolphins of the College of Mt. St. Vincent on Saturday at Robison Field in conjunction with Senior Day. Sage won the first game 6-0 as junior pitcher Katie Kovage (Hoosick Falls, NY/Hoosick Falls Central) tossed a perfect game and tied the program's all-time victory mark in the process with her 28th career win. In the nightcap, CMSV's freshman Rachel Heizer (Vacaville, CA/Vacaville) hit a grand slam to win the game, 7-4.

Sage stands at 15-13 overall and 7-5 in the league, while CMSV is now 14-18 with a 10-4 Skyline record.

Game 1:

Kovage tossed a perfect game sending down all 21 batters she faced with one strikeout as she collected the win. She improved to 7-4 with the win and tied Kelsey Newberg for most career wins with 28.

Offensively, the Gators got four runs in the bottom of the second inning as Kovage led off the scoring with an RBI single.  Sage's senior catcher Kristen Beikirch (Brockport, NY/Brockport) added an RBI single, while rookie Alexa Silk (Freehold, NY/Greenville) also had an RBI single. Sage's sophomore Jess Adams (Nassau, NY/Columbia) added a solo home run in the contest as Sage held a 5-0 lead through three innings.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Beikirch led off with a double to center field and was driven in by junior Morgan Dunn (Cohoes, NY/Cohoes).

Beikirch was 2-4 with an RBI and a double, while Silk went 3-4 with an RBI. Adams was 2-3 with two runs scored, a home run and an RBI. Senior outfielder Samantha Woitkoski (Troy, NY/Lansingburgh) was 3-3 with an RBI and a run scored.

CMSV's sophomore pitcher Mackenzie Heizer (Vacaville, CA/Vacaville) took the loss as she gave up 13 hits with six earned runs and struck out five.

Game 2

In the night cap, Sage took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning as Beikirch and Silk went long in back to back at-bats. The Dolphins answered right back with two runs in the top of the fourth as Mackenzie Heizer had a two RBI single.

Sage took a 3-2 lead in the bottom half of the inning as Adams had an RBI single to right field to drive in rookie Alana Vandenburgh (Wynantskill, NY/Columbia), who had reached on a lead-off double down the right field line.

CMSV tied the game back up at 3-3 with a single run in the top of the fifth as junior Kathryn Dalton (Northampton, PA/Northampton) had an RBI sacrifice fly.

All tied at 3-3 in the top of the seventh, Rachel Heizer collected a grand slam to put the Dolphins up 7-3. Sage got one run back in the bottom half of the inning as Silk drove in Beikirch, who reached on a two-double double down the left field line before Dunn grounded out to short to end the game.

Kovage worked 6.1 innings in the action as she started, left and came back to work in the circle. She allowed five earned runs off 10 hits with two strikeouts. She drops to 7-5 and now has 161 career strikeouts, which is No. 2 all-time at Sage. She is 28-15 in the circle and owns a 3.11 career ERA at Sage, while adding 18 career doubles and a .332 batting average at the plate.

Mackenzie Heizer picked up the win in the nightcap as she allowed just four runs off six hits with five strikeouts and stands at 9-6 on the year.

Biekirch, who owns almost every Sage offensive career record has now played in 151 games, which ties the mark for most games played, while adding career marks for most hits (214), most runs scored (157), most at-bats (509), most stolen bases (62), and owns a .420 career batting average as the program's only two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American.