Troy, NY--- The Sage Colleges' softball team hosted the Wildcats of Cazenovia College on Saturday afternoon in a non-conference doubleheader at Robison Field. The Gators tallied a pair of wins, 9-1 and 10-0 to improve to 6-4. The win in night cap marked the 150th career win for Sage's new head coach, Jamie Brown.
The losses put Cazenovia at 0-4 on the young season
Game #1 Sage 9-1 Cazenovia (5 Innings)
Sage's junior pitcher Kelsey Newberg (New Britain, CT/New Britain) worked a complete game in earning the win to improve to 3-2. She struck out 11 and yielded one hit and one run in the contest.
For the Gators in the first contest, they collected 11 hits and nine runs off of freshman pitcher Jenna Kraegar (Constableville, NY/South Lewis).
Senior third baseman Meghan Welcome (Cohoes, NY/Cohoes) added her team-leading fourth double of the season, elevating her career total to 23, which is second best on the Gator career record list.
Rookie infielder Kristen Beikirch (Brockport, NY/Brockport), the reining Skyline Conference Rookie of the Week, was 3-3 with three runs scores and a double to pace the Gator offense. Rookie rightfielder Samantha Woitkoski (Troy, NY/Lansingburgh) also doubles and was 2-3 with two RBI's and a pair of runs scored.
The Gators took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second and led 3-1 before a 6-run bottom of the fifth ended the game with a 9-1 score.
Cazenovia's freshman Lauren Poremba (Lehighton, PA/Lehighton) tallied the lone hit for the Wildcats.
Kraegar took the loss with 4.1 innings of work, yielding seven earned runs and striking out four to drop to 0-2.
Game #2 Sage 10-0 Cazenovia (5 innings)
In the nightcap, the Gators tacked on three runs in both the bottom of the first and second innings and finished with a 12-hit performance. Among the offensive heroes for the Gators was sophomore short stop Hillary Faas (East Greenbush, NY/Columbia), who connected on a solo home run in the fourth inning. Faas was 2-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored in the game.
Rookie Karlie Williams (Schenectady, NY/Mohonasen) had a pair of doubles for Sage with a 2-3 effort, three RBIs and two runs scored.
For Cazenovia Poremba and junior Katie Hughes (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) each singled for the lone hits for the Wildcats.
Sage's junior Rachel Smith (Valatie, NY/Ichabod Crane) picked up the win to improve to 3-2 after she worked four innings with two singles and four strikeouts. Sophomore Jessica Saburro (Schenectady, NY/Guilderland) worked the fifth inning and fanned two of the three batters she faced.
Cazenovia's junior Courtney Hibbard (Westmoreland, NY/Westmoreland) took the loss after just 1.2 innings of work with three earned runs off six hits. Poremba and Kraegar each saw time for the Wildcats on the rubber.
Sage returns to action on March 18 hosting Southern Vermont College in a non-conference doubleheader commencing at Noon at Robison Field, while Cazenovia returns to action on March 23 at Skidmore College in a 3 p.m. doubleheader.
