Leesburg, Fla. – Redshirt-junior right-hander laura bennett (Corning, NY/Corning-Painted Post) He pitched a complete-game shutout Thursday in the Spring Games against East region foe St. Thomas Aquinas, leading the Dolphins to a 5-0 victory against the Spartans.
Le Moyne fell in game two of their doubleheader against Shepherd University by a score of 10-1 in five innings.
“We played a solid game of softball against STAC. They’re a good team with solid pitching. We capitalized offensively on key moments that made the difference in the game,” Le Moyne head coach said. tracy roman after Thursday’s doubleheader. “I felt like we lacked plate discipline and we weren’t as aggressive offensively in Game 2. We made a couple mental mistakes in the outfield that cost us more runs than we should have allowed. We’re definitely going through some growing pains.” . but these are lessons better learned now than later in the season. This team loves to compete and we are excited to have four more opportunities before returning to The Heights,” continued Roman.
Bennett allowed just five hits and one walk with 10 strikeouts in 7.0 innings pitched during the first game, marking the second time this season the Corning native has 10 strikeouts in a single game.
Redshirt-Sophomore Third Base frankie larobardiere (North Syracuse, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse/Onondaga CC) went 2-for-2 at the plate with a walk against the Spartans while second-year right fielder alyssa dybacz (Baldwinsville, NY/Charles W. Baker) provided two hits, including a double, a run scored and two RBIs.
Through 15 starts in 2023, Larobardiere is hitting .405 with a .784 slugging percentage.
Sophomore right-hander Abbie Labdrum pitched all 6 0 innings for the Spartans and went 2-for-3 at the plate during the setback.
Bennett posted a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts in the first frame, then turned in another 1-2-3 inning in the top of the second.
Larobardiere led off the bottom of the second with a base hit to the left side of the infield, then freshman avery linn (Bethpage, NY/Plainedge) entered the game as a pinch runner.
Graduate Receiver Cassidy Barrett (Apalachin, NY/Vestal) then moved Linn into scoring position with a groundout back to the pitcher.
Labdrum recorded a strikeout in the second out of the inning, but some aggressive walking from Linn allowed him to cross the plate during the next at-bat.
Linn took a big secondary lead after a pitch was thrown to Dominique Rinaldi (Sayville, NY/Sayville), then the rookie took off for third when the STAC catcher tried to throw behind her in second. The throw went over the shortstop’s head just before Linn slid headfirst to third. Linn quickly came back out and ran home to give the ‘Phins a 1-0 lead.
Following a tremendous diving catch by Dybacz in the space between right-center field for the first out of the top of the third, STAC threatened to tie the game with back-to-back one-out singles followed by a sacrifice bunt that moved the runners. to second and third with two outs.
Bennett attacked the next batter and recorded his fourth strikeout to end the inning and uphold the shutout offer.
The ‘Phins then doubled their lead in the bottom of the third.
Freshman shortstop alayna bush (Adams, NY/South Jefferson) came home with one out in the third and hit the ball to the left side of the infield and safely reached for a base hit.
Bush moved into scoring position on a pass ball, then senior center fielder isabel boudreau (Memramcook, New Brunswick/Mathieu-Martin) moved it to third on a groundout to left.
Le Moyne’s two-hitter Dybacz stepped to the plate next and threw the ball up the right side of the infield to drive in Bush and make it 2-0 for the Dolphins.
Landrum provided a leadoff double for Santo Tomas de Aquino in the top of the fourth, then freshman center fielder Eliana Raposo was walked to put runners on first and second with zero outs. Bennett hit a fly ball to shallow center field for the first out of the inning, then struck out the next batters swinging to catch both runners and hold the Spartans scoreless.
The ‘Phin continued to hit the ball hard in the fourth, but a bit of luck kept them from increasing their lead.
Larobardiere singled to right field to lead off the bottom of the fourth, then Barrett threw the ball to third baseman. STAC forced out at second, but Barrett rushed down the line to prevent them from turning a double play.
The current NE10 Player of the Week, senior first baseman mckenzie bergdoll (Attleboro, Mass./Attleboro) rocket-hit first baseman during the ensuing at-bat. In a split second, STAC’s Tara Hagan reached to line hook for one out, then stepped on first base to complete the double play and end the inning.
Bennett stopped the Spartans with another 1-2-3 inning, including two more strikeouts in the top of the fifth, then Le Moyne extended his lead in the bottom of the infield.
senior left fielder Dominic in Russian (Hopewell Junction, NY/John Jay) singled with one out to right infield to give the ‘Phins their fifth-inning runner on first base, then Bush made a sacrifice bunt to put Russo in position to score.
senior gardener jillian dunn (Fiskdale, Mass./Tantasqua Regional) came to the plate as a pinch hitter and threw a pitch between first baseman and second baseman and the ball drifted into the outfield grass, allowing Russo to score from second base.
Russo advanced to second base on the play, then Dybacz doubled into the gap between left-center field to score Dunn and make it 4-0 Dolphins.
Audrey Bendersky (Spring Lake Park, Minn./Spring Lake Park) hit the ball airborne to shallow left field during the ensuing at-bat, and the STAC outfielder couldn’t make the catch, allowing Dybacz to score and give him gave Le Moyne his fifth race of the contest.
Santo Tomás de Aquino loaded the bases in the top of the sixth, but Bennett got two consecutive infield popups to get out of the inning unscathed.
In the top of the seventh inning, Bennett grounded out to Rinaldi at second base for the first out of the inning, then Laura recorded her ninth-and-10.he Contest strikeouts to end the game and secure the win for the ‘Phins.
Le Moyne Red Shirt – Right Handed Sophomore Michaela Stockwell (Fort Plain, NY/Fort Plain) Started game two for Le Moyne and pitched 2.2 innings during setback, then sophomore right-hander julia panarella (Southington, Conn./Southington) pitched 1.1 innings in relief.
Shepherd’s senior right-hander, Katie Laing, pitched the first 3.1 innings and allowed just one run to earn the Rams the win, then freshman Abby McBride pitched 1.2 frames to end the game.
The Rams took a 7–0 lead in the third inning, then scored three more in the fourth, and held Le Moyne scoreless in the top of the fifth to end the game.
Le Moyne scored his only run against Shepherd via an RBI double by Bergdoll in the top of the fourth.
The Dolphins will play four more games at the Spring Games in Florida before returning to Syracuse, with a doubleheader on both Friday and Saturday.
Le Moyne will face Wayne State University on Friday at 12:30 pm before 3:00 pm against Purdue University Northwest.
