Troy, NY— Sage's softball team hosted Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts on Wednesday in a non-conference doubleheader at Robison Field. MCLA took a pair from the Gators, winning the first game, 8-6 and the night cap 3-1. MCLA improves to 12-20, while Sage's season wraps with a record of 11-25.
Game #1 MCLA 8-6 Sage
Sage jumped out to a 2-0 lead as graduate player, left fielder Lisa Kentris (Latham, NY/Shaker) drove in a pair of runs in the bottom of the second. MCLA tied the action in the top of the fourth as sophomore Alanza Quinones (North Adams, MA/McCann Tech) added an RBI sacrifice fly to drive in Nevada Nelson (Colonie, NY/Colonie Central) who reached on a single to right and advanced to second on a throw and to third on a passed ball. Rookie Cassandra Crosier (Florida, MA/Drury) reached in on an error and Nicole Main (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) who also reached on a Gator error.
Sage took a 6-2 lead in the fourth as senior Kiersten Duncan (Millerton, NY/Taconic Hills) belted her team and Empire 8 leading 15th double of the season as well as RBI's from junior Amanda Kiriakos (Yonkers, NY/Saunders Trade & Technical), sophomore Emily Agate (Franklin Square, NY/H. Frank Carey), and senior Lindsey Decker (Ballston Lake, NY/Shenendehowa).
MCLA had a big inning in the sixth as junior Kaylyn Holliday (Catskill, NY/Catskill) had a grand slam to aid the Trailblazers as they took a 7-6 lead and also got a RBI from Kayla Baker (Shrewsbury, MA/Assabet Valley) in the seventh to take the 8-6 game over Sage.
Kentris, Kiriakos, and Decker were all 2-4 at the plate while Kentris drove in two runs for the Gators.
Sophomore Samantha Feinstein (Yarmouth, MA/Dennis Yarmouth Regional) collected the complete game win as she fanned four and improves to 7-8. Sage's junior Alicia Swavely (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) worked 5.2 innings and allowed one earned run off seven hits with three strikeouts and drops to 5-4 on the year. Rookie Taylor Dicranian (Bennington, VT/Mount Anthony Union) worked 1.1 innings in relief with one run off one hit with one strikeout.
Game #2 MCLA 3-1 Sage
After playing to a scoreless tie through four innings, MCLA's senior Kaitlyn Berghela (Watervliet, NY/Shaker) belted a three-run home run to spot the Trailblazers to a 3-0 lead.
Sage added a run in the bottom of fifth as Kentris led off with a single to right. Duncan singled to center before Kiriakos singled to center field to drive in Kentris. Sage was unable to push any more runs across the plate in the bottom of the inning and trailed 3-1 through five innings, a score that would hold up as the final score.
Sage's sophomore pitcher Katerina Lagace (Newington, CT/Newington) took the loss for Sage after allowing 10 hits with three earned runs and striking out five. She closes the year with a 5-12 record having struck out 46 batters in 85.1 innings of work.
MCLS'a freshman pitcher Morgan Watson (Portland, OR/Jesuit) picked up the complete game win after scattering eight hits with one run and struck out four as she improves to 3-2 on the year.
The games marked the final career appearances in a Gator uniform for three Sage players, Lisa Kentris, Lindsey Decker and Kiersten Duncan.
Over the course of her four-year career at Sage, Duncan established a career mark for most doubles with 48, while adding to her extensive resume. She finished tied for fourth having played in 141 games with 139 starts while adding 401 at bats (No. 7). She racked up 123 career hits to finish ninth all-time, while adding 75 career RBI (No. 9), while batting .307 over four years with a blistering .479 career slugging percentage. As a senior, Duncan batted .360 this season with a .540 slugging percentage and led the Gators having drawn 13 walks.
Decker finished the season leading Sage with her 39 hits and 25 RBI's this spring. A starter in 53 career games at Sage, Decker added 47 career hits with 29 RBI's and had five career doubles. Kentris started 30 of her 33 games played this year at Sage as a graduate transfer student. She had 36 hits with 23 runs scored in 102 at bats and drove in 10 RBIs with a .353 batting average this spring. All three are also currently candidates for the 2019 CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic All-District Softball Team.
Sage wrapped the 2019 season Wednesday, while MCLA is back in action on April 27 hosting Salem State in the 1 p.m. conference twinbill.