Softball Drops Two to Open Felsburg Tournament on Friday

The Central Connecticut softball team fell 8-0 to Delaware and then 10-1 to Florida International on Friday on the opening day of the Felsburg Invitational Tournament held at Felsburg Field at the FIU Softball Stadium in Miami, FL. The loses drop the Blue Devils to 1-2 on the season and they will return to action tomorrow with a doubleheader on day two of the tournament against Siena at 11 a.m. and FIU at 4 p.m.

Game #1 vs. Delaware

The Blue Hens pushed across three runs in the third, two in the fourth and three more in the seventh to earn the 8-0 victory. With Delaware runners on second and third in the top of the third inning, a CCSU throwing error allowed the first two runs of the game to score. Then two batters later a Shelby Jones two-out double down the right field line drove in the third run of the inning.

Back-to-back Delaware doubles in the fourth inning made it 4-0 Blue Hens. Then Mariah Kondravy followed with a single through the left side of the infield to bring home another run and give Delaware a five-run advantage.

Delaware's Lisa Stacevicz led off the top of the seventh inning with a solo home run over the left-center field wall, her first of the season, to make it 6-0. The Blue Hens then put the game away with two more runs on a two-out, two-RBI triple to right-center field by Leanna Gearhart to account for the 8-0 final.

Central struggled to get anything going offensively throughout the game off Delaware starting pitcher Kiersten Coffman. The Blue Devils best opportunity to score came in the bottom of the second inning when the game was still scoreless. Senior Evie Rentzel led off the inning with a triple, but she was stranded there as the next three CCSU batters were unable to drive her in.

The Blue Devils managed just six hits in their first loss of the season. Rentzel and fellow senior Eileen Purcell both logged multi-hit games finishing 2-for-3 at the dish, respectfully. Rentzel logged the only extra base hit for CCSU with the triple.

Coffman moves to 3-2 on the season in the circle as she earned the victory for the Blue Hens, twirling 6.0 innings while allowing just five hits without a walk. She finished with six strikeouts.

Freshman Alex Casañas went the distance for the Blue Devils, surrendering eight runs (six earned) on 13 hits and a pair of walks. She struck out one and falls to 0-1 on the season.

Game #2 vs. Florida International

A six-run fifth inning by Florida International doomed the Blue Devils as they fell to the FIU Panthers 10-1 in six innings in their second game of the Felsburg Invitational Tournament on Friday night. With the win FIU snaps a two game slide and improves to 9-4.

In a rematch from Thursday night's contest between the Blue Devils and Panthers where Central came-from-behind to top FIU 6-5 on a Hannah Cooper RBI single in the top seventh inning in its season opener, Florida International got revenge and upended the Blue Devils 10-1.

FIU's Stephanie Texiera, who hit a three-run homer against CCSU on Thursday night, sunk the Blue Devils on Friday as she blasted a pair of three-run home runs to power the Panthers over the Blue Devils.

Texiera broke a 1-1 tie with her first three-run dinger in the bottom of the fifth inning. A single and walk wrapped around a pair of outs setup Texiera for her first home run over the right field fence to give the Panthers a 4-1 lead. A double and a walk extended the inning following the home run and then two straight two-out knocks by the Panthers drove in two more runs as FIU sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning to take a 7-1 lead.

Texiera then shortened the game via the eight-run mercy rule with her second three-run round-tripper in the sixth inning to give FIU the 10-1 victory. She finished the night 3-for-4 with six RBI and now has a team-high seven home runs and 21 RBI for the Panthers.

The Blue Devils struck first once again though getting off to a hot start against FIU on Friday night. Central plated a run and took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning after freshman Kaitlin Paterson reached safely on a FIU fielding error that brought home sophomore Alexis Debrosse who reached on a fielding error to open the game.

Florida International responded quickly however, and tied the game up in the bottom half of the inning on a RBI single to right-center field from Gabby Spallone.

Sophomore Emily Sargent took the loss in the circle for the Blue Devils and drops to 1-1 on the season after allowing 10 runs (nine earned) on 12 hits and three walks over 5.1 innings of work. She struck out four.

Central managed just two hits in the setback. Purcell finished 1-for-2 with a single and Paterson went 1-for-3 with a single, picking up her first collegiate hit as a Blue Devil.

The Blue Devils will return to action for day two of the Felsburg Invitational Tournament on Saturday playing Siena at 11 a.m. and then FIU at 4 p.m.