Eva FitzSimmons
Fredonia won both ends of a SUNYAC softball doubleheader Sunday, defeating Potsdam by scores of 7-6 and 11-1 in five innings.
Katie Yudin homered, singled, and drove in three runs while Eva FitzSimmons had three hits in the opener. Maria Caviris picked up the win in relief and Sam Seegar got the final out to pick up a save.
Seegar pitched a complete-game two-hitter over five innings in the Game 2. She was backed by an 11-hit offensive attack which included two hits each by FitzSimmons, Sydney Merkley, Cassie Herman, and Amber Piniewski.
The sweep lifted the Blue Devils to 10-14 overall and 5-5 in the conference. Potsdam fell to 5-19 and 0-8.
Here's how it happened:
GAME ONE
Potsdam took a 3-0 lead in the third inning off Yudin before she took matters into her own hands with a three-run homer in the fifth following singles by Amber Piniewski and Rhianna Paoletti.
The Bears retook the lead, 4-3, in the last of the fifth. The Blue Devils countered with four runs in the sixth. The rally consisted of a double by FitzSimmons, a single by Megan Maull, a single by Nicole Kumro, two Potsdam errors, and sacrifice flies by Herman and Merkley.
On in relief of Yudin, Cavaris got the first two outs in the seventh before Potsdam mounted a rally. Three singles and a walk made it 7-6 before Seegar induced the final out on a fly to left.
GAME TWO
The Blue Devils used their Game 1 momentum to take a 3-0 lead in the first inning of Game 2. The inning included singles by Merkley, Maddy O'Heir, and Herman. The last two were RBI hits.
A five-run Fredonia second started with lead-off singles by Alyssa Piniewski and Amber Piniewski. A wild pitch scored the first run, a sacrifice fly by Karli Murray brought in the second. Merkley singled ahead of an RBI double by Yudin. The fourth run scored on a wild pitch, the first on a single by Herman.
Potsdam scored its only run in the second inning. Fredonia put the game out of reach – and invoked the eight-run Mercy rule – with a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth. FitzSimmons had an RBI single in the fourth, while a single by Amber Piniewski sandwiched around a walk and two wild pitches completed the scoring.
WHAT'S NEXT?
A non-conference doubleheader Tuesday vs. University of Rochester at Blue Devil Field precedes another SUNYAC road trip next weekend, Friday at Cortland and Saturday at Oswego.
