SPARKILL, NY – No. 1 Mercy and No. 2 St. Thomas Aquinas defeated their opposition on the opening day of the ECC Women's Softball Championship on Thursday afternoon at STAC's Spartan Field.
NO. 1 ST. THOMAS AQUINAS d. NO. 4 D'YOUVILLE, 3-0
BOX SCORE
Recap courtesy of St. Thomas Aquinas College Sports Information
Sarah Clancy's superb one-hit pitching performance, combined with Eliana Raposo's power at the plate and stellar defensive effort, helped to propel the St. Thomas Aquinas College Softball team to a 3-0 win over D'Youville University on Thursday afternoon in the first round of the East Coast Conference Tournament at Spartan Field.
The victory pushed STAC's overall record to 29-17, while D'Youville dropped to 19-18.
The top-seeded Spartans advance to the second round Friday at 10:00 a.m. to meet second-seeded Mercy University, which topped Molloy University, 4-3, in today's other first-round game.
A wild pitch got the maroon and gold scoring started in the bottom of the first inning, as an erratic throw by D'Youville pitcher Sarah Parzych, with two outs and runners on second and third, allowed Adriana Coira to race home to make it 1-0.
Runs were at a premium between the sides in the postseason opener, that is until Eliana Raposo uncorked a two-run shot over the left-center field fence in the sixth inning to increase the Spartans' lead to 3-0.
Starting Pitcher Sarah Clancy (16-9) lived up to her Co-Pitcher of the Year status against the Saints by allowing just one hit and no walks with four strikeouts over seven innings of work to pick up her sixteenth win of the year. As a matter of fact, Clancy allowed only three base runners the entire game, with the other two coming via an throwing error and a hit by pitch from the lefty.
In the field, the Spartans sparkled with their gloves, including several defensive gems courtesy of Raposo.
STAC's second-round opponent Mercy is a very familiar one, as the schools are separated by a little over 11 miles and the Hudson River. The Spartans won three-of-four matchups with the Mavericks in the regular season.
NO. 2 MERCY d. NO. 3 MOLLOY, 4-3
BOX SCORE
Recap courtesy of Mercy University Sports Information
Powered by a walk-off RBI single from freshman Talia Salanto (Milford, Conn./Jonathan Law) and a game-high three RBI from sophomore Allison Murphy (Stony Point, N.Y./North Rockland), the No. 2 seeded Mercy University softball team earned a 4-3 win over No. 3 seeded Molloy University on Day One of the ECC Softball Championship on Thursday afternoon at Spartan Field.
The Mavericks (23-20) improve to 5-0 this season against the Lions (19-30) this season. Mercy wins a game in the ECC Championship for the first time since 2021. Mercy will play at top seed St. Thomas Aquinas tomorrow at 10 a.m. If the Mavericks win tomorrow morning, they will advance to the Final on Saturday at 12 p.m. If Mercy loses to STAC, they will face the winner of Molloy/D'Youville in an elimination game at 3 p.m. on Friday.
Mercy was led by Murphy who went 3-for-4 with her second home run of the season and three RBI. Salanto went 2-for-3 with an RBI and freshmen Keira Jantz (Islip, N.Y./Islip) and Jessica Fox (Rockaway, N.J./Morris Knolls) both went 2-for-3. Senior Skylar Brandemarte (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Stonehill College) tossed a complete game with two earned runs allowed and two strikeouts to earn her 13th win of the season.
Molloy was led by Natalie Moussa who went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Stevie Dabbadie allowed two runs in 5.1 innings to take the loss.
Mercy took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a Murphy leadoff home run to left center.
The Mavericks scored two runs in the second inning to take a 3-0 lead. Fox singled and senior Madilyn Lula (Milford, Conn./Jonathan Law) walked before sophomore Dylan Reyer (Baldwin, N.Y./Baldwin) sacrificed the runners over to second and third. Murphy then singled to right center, scoring Fox and Lula to give Mercy a 3-0 lead.
Molloy scored a run in the third inning and two runs in the fifth inning to tie the game at 3-3.
The game remained tied at 3-3 heading to the bottom of the seventh. Murphy singled to lead off the game and advanced to second after a graduate student Mia Harris (West Harrison, N.Y./Harrison) sacrifice. Senior Victoria Seppala (Abington, Mass./Abington) walked before Salanto singled to left field, scoring Murphy, to give Mercy the 4-3 walk-off win.
Mercy had nine hits and one error and Molloy had eight hits and one error.
Head Coach Jaime Lorenzo and the Mavericks resume action tomorrow when they play at No. 1 seed STAC at 10 a.m. in the second day of the ECC Championship.