Pomona, NJ – The Sage Colleges' softball team wrapped play on Sunday in the 2013 Eastern College Athletic Conference Metro NY-NJ Tournament on the campus of Richard Stockton College. The tournament was shifted to Sunday after rain on Saturday and was also turned into a single-elimination format.
In the first game of the day, Richard Stockton defeated FDU-Florham, 7-1. Sage then beat Elmira College, 3-1 setting the stage for the championship game with No. 1 seeded Richard Stockton facing No. 6 seeded Sage for the title. RSC posted a 7-2 win over Sage in the finals to earn the championship. The Gators took home the ECAC Runner-up title for the second straight year and finish the season with a 22-19 mark. Richard Stockton caps the year with the ECAC Championship after a 33-11 season.
ECAC SEMIFINALS (#6 Sage 3-1 # 2 Elmira)
In the ECAC's semifinals, Sage took on No. 2 seeded Elmira College and came away with a 3-1 win to advance to the championship game. In the first inning, sophomore infielder Kristen Beikirch (Brockport, NY/Brockport) led off with a single and was driven in on a two-run home run by junior short stop Hillary Faas (East Greenbush, NY/Columbia) to spot the Gators to a 2-0 lead. Rookie Courtney Laughlin (Cohoes, NY/Cohoes) added a solo shot to center field and help Sage jump out to a 3-0 lead after one inning of play.
For the game, Beikirch was 1-4 and with her hit in the first innings, surpassed last season's record setting mark of 62 hits as she tallied her 63rd hit of the season and added a stolen base.
The home run for Faas was her sixth of the season, elevating her career resume to include 14 home runs, which is tied for the No. 2 spot on the Gator career home run list. For Laughlin, the home run was the second of the season as Sage collected 21 home runs in 2013.
Elmira's offense was able to plate a single run in the bottom of the sixth inning as Mikayla Bean had an RBI single to drive in Katie Dore, who reached on a lead-off single.
Pitching for the Gators, rookie Katie Kovage (Hoosick Falls, NY/Hoosick Falls Central) worked seven innings to earn her 10th win of the season. She struck out two and gave up just one earned run off three hits in the complete game, making her 23rd appearance of the season. She went 10-3 on the season with 61 strikeouts and a 2.07 ERA in a team-leading 101.2 innings of work.
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME (#1 Richard Stockton def. #6 Sage, 7-2)
The two teams were deadlocked at 0-0 until RSC pushed a run across the plate in the bottom of the third inning and tacked on two more in the bottom of the fourth. The Ospreys added four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and held a 7-0 lead when Sage got on the scoreboard with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth, but their rally was cut short by the host Ospreys.
Sage's graduate student Rachel Smith (Valatie, NY/Ichabod Crane) started in the circle and threw five innings, allowing five earned runs of seven hits with two strikeouts and five walks. She drops to 4-7 in her final career outing and closes her career with 20-19 career record in the circle and 150 career strikeouts in 47 appearances with 3.68 career ERA (No. 8).
Closing out the action in the circle for Sage was senior pitcher Kelsey Newberg (New Britain, CT/New Britain) as she worked the last inning and with no runs allowed and just one hit. She also closes her Sage career on Sunday, having rewritten a number of Sage's career pitching marks. She finishes with a career record for most wins (28) as she went 28-26 in 62 outings with another mark for most strikeouts (261) and a 3.28 career ERA, which is No. 7 all-time in 339 innings pitched (No. 2).
Sage's offense tallied a pair of runs in the sixth inning as Beikirch lead off with a double and was driven in on an RBI double by graduate player, Tiffany Bezio (Whitehall, NY/Whitehall). Bezio went to third on a wild pitch and came home on an RBI single by Hillary Faas. The Gators were not able to collect any more runs in the inning but pushed RSC's starting pitcher from the game, junior Michelle Pietrocola from the game. She went five innings in earning the win and improves to 18-6 on the year. She fanned 10 and allowed just two earned runs off five hits.
Offensively for Sage, Faas was 2-3, while Beikirch was 1-4. Beikirch caps her sensation sophomore season with a school-record 64 hits, while adding 11 doubles, three triples, and six home runs with 17 stolen bases and 46 runs scored. She now boasts a .439 career batting average in two seasons played in 87 games with a .655 slugging percentage on 126 hits with 16 doubles, 85 runs scored, 55 RBIs and 22 stolen bases.
Faas, who has played and also started 114 games, now owns a .360 batting average with 85 runs scored off 133 hits with 32 doubles, 14 home runs and 85 RBIs.
Bezio also wrapped her outstanding career on Sunday after playing in and starting 114 games with a .314 batting average with 76 hits and 17 doubles. Both Newberg and Smith added to Sage's success as hitters as well during their careers as Smith played in 110 games and batted .328 with 115 hits, including 23 doubles, 14 home runs and became the Gators' first CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-American in softball in 2012. Newberg played in 109 games with a .292 career batting average with 96 hits and 50 RBI's at the plate.
