Rockville Centre, N.Y. – Powered by a walk-off single from freshman Kendall Meeks (Guysville, Ohio/Alexander) in the eighth inning, the No. 1 seeded Mercy College softball team earned a 3-2 win over No. 3 seeded NYIT on Saturday afternoon in the ECC Championships at Bob Klein Field.
The Mavericks (31-13) remain unbeaten in the ECC Championships and will play for the Championship tomorrow at Smith Field starting at 12 p.m. Mercy will take on LIU Post for the Championship after the Pioneers defeated NYIT in an elimination game earlier tonight.
Meeks went 2-for-3 with two RBI, while senior Julie Gross (Port Monmouth, N.J./Middletown North) went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Junior Cassidy Wootten (Ardsley, N.Y./Monroe College) went 2-for-3 with a run scored and freshman Alexis Carmichael (Allen, Texas/Allen) went 1-for-1 with her first collegiate hit. Sophomore McKaily Cusumano (Monroe, Mich./Monroe) went the distance with one earned run allowed and six strikeouts to pick up her eighth win.
NYIT was led by Christine Rizzacasa who went 1-for-3 with an RBI, while Laura McLaughlin took the loss in the circle with one earned run allowed.
After a scoreless two innings to begin the contest, the Mavericks got on the board in the bottom of the third as Gross drove home junior Allie Pellizzaro (Victoria, British Columbia/Eastern Arizona CC) with an RBI single through the right side to make it 1-0.
NYIT put a runner on third in the top of the fourth, but Cusumano got a strikeout to end the inning keeping the Mavericks ahead. Mercy added to their lead in the bottom of the fourth when Meeks hit an RBI single to right center that scored Wootten, who had doubled to lead off the inning, giving Mercy a 2-0 lead.
The Bears finally broke through against Cusumano and tied the game up at 2-2 after an RBI double by Rizzacasa and an error by the shortstop. The Mavericks looked to earn in the win in the bottom of the seventh after putting runners on first and second with two outs. However, a popup ended the threat and sent the game into extra innings.
After Cusumano worked around a single in the top of the eighth, junior Morgan Lloyd (East Lyme, Conn./East Lyme) led off the bottom of the eighth by reaching first on an error by the centerfielder. Wootten sacrificed Lloyd over to second and freshman Destini Bullock (San Diego, Calif./Helix) moved Lloyd over to third with a groundout. With two outs, Meeks would come through with a clutch RBI single through the right side that scored Lloyd giving the Mavericks their second win in the ECC Championships.
Head Coach Mike Fazio and the Mavericks resume action tomorrow when they host LIU Post at Smith Field at 12 p.m. needing one win to earn the conference championship.
Provided by the Mercy Sports Information Department.
