Softball Tripped Up Once Again By Sacred Heart And Yale

It was another tough day between the lines for the Central Connecticut State University softball team on Saturday, as the Blue Devils fell for the second straight day to Sacred Heart and host Yale at the 2025 Yale University Softball Invitational.  Central opened the day by dropping a 9-7 slugfest against Sacred Heart, and then Yale topped CCSU, 7-3, on a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning.  With the two losses on Saturday, CCSU is now 2-13 so far this season.

SACRED HEART GAME |BOX SCORE

Score:  Sacred Heart 9, CCSU 7
Records: CCSU (2-12, 0-0 NEC), SHU (6-7, 0-0 MAAC)
Location: 5K Corral Field |New Haven, Conn.

YALE GAME |BOX SCORE

Score:  Yale 7, CCSU 3
Records: CCSU (2-13, 0-0 NEC), Yale (5-8, 0-0 Ivy)
Location: 5K Corral Field |New Haven, Conn.

KEY MOMENTS FROM THE SACRED HEART GAME:

• Playing as the home team for the first time in three games at the Yale Classic, CCSU took a 4-1 in the bottom of the third inning when Joslyn Teal hit a solo homer, her third home run of the season, Sophia LoPiccolo had an RBI-double and Skylar Warn smashed her third home run of the year, a two-run blast.
• SHU would grab a 7-4 lead which the Pioneers would never relinquish, when Sacred Heart scored six fourth inning runs.
• Joslyn Teal picked up her second RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning to make the score, 7-5.
• The Pioneers added a pair of runs in the fifth to make score, 9-5.
• CCSU plated their final two runs of the contest to make the score, 9-7, in the bottom of the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly by Grace Lawton and an RBI-single by Ava Cino.
• Skylar Warn went 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs batted in against SHU in Saturday's first game.
• Sophia LoPiccolo added a pair of doubles as part of the CCSU eight-hit attack against Sacred Heart.
• Reagan Vunak stole a base in both of Saturday's games.
• Starter Adrianna Green (0-3) took the loss in Saturday's tilt versus Sacred Heart, as she worked 3.2 innings in which she allowed seven runs with four strikeouts.
• Liz Hamilton finished the game in relief for the Blue Devils pitching 3.1 innings in which she allowed two runs on four hits with two K's.

KEY MOMENTS FROM THE YALE GAME:

• Host Yale opened the scoring with a run in the bottom of the first inning.
• CCSU took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third when the Blue Devils scored on a Bulldogs' error and RBI-infield single by Joslyn Teal.
• In the bottom of the fifth, Yale took a 3-2 lead as two runs crossed the plate.
• Central came right back to knot the game at 3-3 in the top of sixth inning on an BBI-double by Ava Cino that pushed Reagan Vunak home.
• After holding the Blue Devils scoreless in the top of the seventh, the host Bulldogs won the game in the bottom of the frame on a no-out, walk-off grand slam by Katie Donahey following a pair of walks and a CCSU error.
• Ashlyn Desaulniers and Kassandra (KC) Machado each had two hits to power the Blue Devils' nine-hit attack versus Yale on Saturday.  Machado's two hits were a double and a triple.
• Alina Varga (1-6) pitched a complete game in Saturday's second game in which she allowed only four hits over six innings of work, but she was plagued by 10 walks while fanning six Yale batters.

UP NEXT:

• The Blue Devils will look to get back in the win column when they close out play at the 2025 Yale Classic on Sunday morning with an 11:00 a.m. contest versus the University of Maine Black Bears in New Haven.