Montemurro and Bruno Earn Softball a Split with Sacre Heart

The Central Connecticut softball team split a doubleheader with Sacred Heart University on Saturday afternoon. The Blue Devils improve to 17-10-1 on the season and 5-1 in Northeast Conference play with the split. The Blue Devils dropped the opening game, but rallied to win the second behind a shut out by senior Elizabeth Montemurro and two run homerun by fresman Arielle Bruno.

Game One

The Blue Devils dropped game one 4-0 as the Pioneers used the long ball to account for three of their four runs.

The Pioneers got on the board early with a lead off homerun by Taylor Froelich. Blue Devil starter Jordan Tingley settled down and got out of the inning with out allowing another run.

Sacred Heart added another run in the top of the second, but Tingley was able to work out of a bases loaded jam to avoid further damage.

Both teams traded zeros in the middle innings, but the starting pitchers were up to the task of pitching out of jams. Central's best scoring chance came in the bottom of the fourth when they had first and second with one out, but they were unable to get a run across.

They threatened again with first and third two outs in the fifth, but again they were unable to force a run across. Central threatened again in the sixth, but once again the Blue Devils were kept off the scoreboard.

The Pioneers tacked on another pair of runs in the seventh inning on a two run homerun by Liz Tsipouras. The runs were unearned however as the batter before Tsipouras reached on a fly ball to right field that should have ended the inning.

The Blue Devils were retired one-two-three in the seventh to end the game.

Bruno, senior Amanda Dilworth, sophomore Kelsey Barlow, freshman Tessa Brown and freshman Courtney Collins all had hits in the game.

Game Two

The first two and a half innings of the game were dominated by pitching. Blue Devil starter Montemurro allowed only two hits over the first three innings. Sacred Heart's starter Nicole Sidor was even more dominant striking out five of six batters and not allowing a hit over the first two innings.

The Blue Devils struck in the bottom of the third, as Bruno launched her third homerun of the season to give her team a 2-0 lead. The two run bomb was setup by junior Sarah Vlahos who was hit by a pitch to get on in front of Bruno.

Montemurro continued to dominate after her team gave her the lead. She didn't allow a hit after the third inning. She finished her complete game shut out, allowing only two hits and striking out two in seven innings. She did not walk a batter.

For Sacred Heart, Sidor struck out 13 of the 23 Blue Devils she faced in her six innings. She also allowed only two hits, but one of them was the long homerun by Bruno.

Sophomore Kelsey Barlow had the other hit for the Blue Devils. With hits in both games Bruno extended her hitting streak to 15 games.

The Blue Devils return to action on Sunday with a NEC doubleheader against Robert Morris, first pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m.