Old Westbury, N.Y. - One day removed from getting the Molloy College softball team into the winner's bracket of the 2016 East Coast Conference Softball Tournament, freshman outfielder Kaitlyn Snyder (Smithtown, N.Y.) and junior Milan Botte (Reston, Va.) collected three hits apiece to send the third-seeded Lions to an 8-5 win over top-seed NYIT on Friday (Apr. 29) and into ECC Championship Saturday.
NYIT---who are the tournament hosts but were the visiting team upon a coin flip after Thursday's games---took an early one-run lead after a lead-off homer by Amber Butenhoff (Port Jervis, N.Y.) which was her third in two days and the Bears' sixth home run in the last two contests. The maroon and white trailed for the first time in the tourney but immediately came back in the bottom of the frame and scored two runs against NYIT starter Carly Wade (Placentia, Calif.). After Botte smacked a two-out double to left field, Brianna Dalton (Northampton, Pa.) hit a 1-2 pitch into right field for a base hit that scored Botte and tied the game. The very next batter, sophomore catcher Alexandra Russo (Coram, N.Y.) cracked Wade's first throw down the right field line for an RBI double to put the Lions ahead by a score of 2-1.
Molloy broke open the contest in the bottom of the second inning, scoring four times thanks to two infield errors by the Bears. The maroon and white loaded the bases on three straight one-out singles by Erin Clinton (Long Beach, Calif.), Snyder, and Olivia Banulski (Bristol, Conn.) before Wade missed on a 3-1 pitch and walked Tracey Balinskas (Edison, N.J.) to bring in another run. After Botte struck out swinging for the second out, Dalton hit a ground ball that scooted through the legs of first baseman Kat Zabielski (Farmingdale, N.Y.) and into right field; two runs scored and the Lions led by a 5-1 score. Russo then chopped one to second base and that ball was misplayed as well, bringing home Balinskas with the sixth run for the third-seed. Balinskas and Botte would do more damage in the bottom of the third inning, hitting back-to-back RBI singles to up the Lions' advantage to 8-1.
The Lions would not score another run as Sofia Evangelista (Massapequa, N.Y.) shut down Molloy's offense in relief of Wade. NYIT, meanwhile, made things interesting in the final two innings of play. The resilient regular-season champions loaded the bases in the top of the sixth with one out for Ruth Rodriguez (Franklin Square, N.Y.), who grounded out to short to score a run and cut the Lions' lead to six runs. Then in the seventh inning, a Zabielski fly ball was mishandled in right field to score a run and Christina Pantages (Whittier, Calif.) crushed a two-run home run to center field to bring NYIT within three runs at the time with only one out in the frame. Catcher Madison Smith (Tustin, Calif.) doubled one off the left-field fence to keep the rally going, but back-to-back groundouts ended the threat and preseved the win for Molloy.
Snyder was 3-for-3 with two runs scored while Botte had a 3-for-4 day at the plate with a double and an RBI. Banulski and Clinton each added two hits for the Lions as well. Molloy dominated situational batting, hitting .462 (6-13) with two outs and 9-for-21 (.429) with runners on base in the victory. Balinskas threw six-and-two thirds innings in relief to get the win, allowing four runs (one earned) on six hits while striking out four batters.
Provided by the Molloy Sports Information Department.
