2012 Skyline Conference Tournament Bracket
SAGE SWEEPS FARMINGDALE STATE; GATORS CLAIM FIRST-EVER SKYLINE CONFERENCE BERTH IN SOFTBALL
Troy, NY--- The Sage Colleges' softball team hosted Farmingdale State College in a Skyline Conference doubleheader on Saturday at Robison Field. The games held playoff ramifications and by day's end saw Sage collect two wins to garner the program's first Skyline Conference Tournament appearance. Sage won the first game 7-4 and escaped with an 8-6 victory in the nightcap. The wins put Sage at 24-12 overall and 9-5 in the Skyline Conference. FSC drops to 22-12 overall and also 9-5 in the Skyline Conference. The Sage sweep gives the Gators the No. 2 seed in the upcoming 2012 Skyline Conference Tournament, which opens on Wednesday, April 25 at 4 p.m. The Gators will host No. 3 seeded FSC in the first game of the four-team double-elimination formatted tournament.
Prior to the games, Sage honored senior Meghan Welcome (Cohoes, NY/Cohoes) in conjunction with Senior Day. During her career, Welcome established herself among the program's leaders in several offensive categories. By day's end, she stands as Gator leader in career games played (131), while ranking No. 2 in career doubles (33), No. 7 in career hits (99), No. 3 in career at-bats (371), No. 11 in career runs scored (55), No. 6 in career RBIs (60), and No. 5 in career walks (34).
Game # 1 Sage 7-4 FSC
The Gators jumped out to a 6-0 lead after pushing six runs across the plate in the bottom of the second inning. Sage's sophomore short stop Hillary Faas (East Greenbush, NY/Columbia) drove in a pair of runs in the inning with a double down the left field line. Rookie Karlie Williams (Schenectady, NY/Mohanasen) also drove in a pair of runs in the inning. Williams broke Sage's single-season RBI mark in the action as she now has a team-leading 37 RBIs, bettering the old mark of 36 set in 2004 by Brittany Kirk.
In the bottom of the third inning sophomore catcher Tricia Gaulin (South Glens Falls, NY/South Glens Falls) connected on her first home run of the season on a solo shot to left field.
The Rams chipped away at Sage's lead and scored a pair of runs in the top of the six and another in the top of the seventh. Pacing the rally was sophomore Hillary Genova (Brentwood, NY/Brentwood) and senior Kaitlin Keenan (West Islip, NY/West Islip). Keenan had a two RBI single in the sixth and Genova had an RBI single in the seventh.
Sage's Faas was 2-4 with a double and pair of RBIs, while Williams was 1-4 with a pair of RBIs.
Collecting the win for Sage was junior pitcher Kelsey Newberg (New Britain, CT/New Britain) as she worked seven innings and fanned two and yielded four earned runs off five hits. She ties the Sage single-season win mark with her 13th victory. She improves to 13-7 while riding a school record for most strikeouts in a season at 96. She tied the record set by Maria DeNovio's 13 win in 2002.
FSC's senior pitcher Hope Zino (Bay Shore, NY/Bay Shore) took the loss after working three plus innings and yielded seven earned runs off five hits with three strikeouts. She dropped to 9-6. Rookie Chelsea LaMarca (Ronkonkoma, NY/ Connetquot) worked three innings with three hits and no runs in her performance.
Game # 2 Sage 8-6 FSC
Williams provided a spark for the Gators with her grand slam in the fourth inning to help the Gators jump out to a 6-0 lead. Williams finished with a 2-3 effort at the plate and four RBIs, while sophomore Chantal Ceragioli (New Paltz, NY/New Paltz) gave Sage an 8-6 lead with her RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Junior Rachel Smith (Valatie, NY/Ichabod Crane) finished as the winner after 5.2 innings of work with one earned run off nine hits. She stands at 11-6 and shared in the success in the circle as Newberg worked the final 1.1 innings and earned the save with a one-hit effort.
FSC gave the Gators a scare as they picked up five runs off four hits and made the most a pair of Sage errors and pulled within a run, down 7-6.
Zino took another loss in the circle as she worked four innings with one earned run off four hits and struck out five, while walking eight. Rookie Taylor Tedeschi (Levittown, NY/Division Avenue) worked two innings for the Rams.
