Medaille swept the Pitt-Bradford softball team Wednesday in the Panthers' AMCC opener. The Mavericks prevailed 3-1 in extra innings in game one and cruised to a 5-2 victory in the nightcap.
Missed opportunities doomed the Panthers in the opening game, as Medaille rallied to level the score late before taking advantage of Pitt-Bradford miscues in the ninth inning to escape with a comeback victory.
The Panthers jumped ahead 1-0 in the first on Liz Dzurisin's RBI single up the middle. In the third, Pitt-Bradford had a chance to extend its lead with runners in scoring position and only one out, but Madison East struck out swinging and Lindsey Hull flied out to end the threat.
A fielding error in the fifth allowed the Mavericks to score a run from second base, and the Panthers squandered another scoring chance in the bottom half of the inning by stranding a pair of runners at second and third.
Morgan Bellush avoided disaster in the top half of the seventh, working around two base runners, and the game moved to extras after the Panthers went 1-2-3 in their half of the frame.
A one-out Pitt-Bradford error in the ninth allowed the go-ahead run to reach base, and the Mavericks took their first lead two batters later on the Panthers' fifth error of the contest. Medaille's Mercedes Sulzbach followed with a run-scoring single to cap the scoring.
Bellush took the loss, allowing three unearned runs in nine innings of work. She yielded just six hits, did not walk a batter and struck out four. The Panthers scrapped together only three hits after the first inning and were 1-8 in run-scoring opportunities.
Medaille scored four runs in the fourth inning to break open a tie game in game two, and the Panthers two-out rally in the sixth inning was cut down when Dzurisin was thrown out at the plate attempting to score.
Starter Cassidy Lewis was perfect the first time through the Mavericks' order, but Medaille slugged a trio of doubles in the fourth inning to build a 4-0 lead.
Pitt-Bradford trimmed the deficit to 4-1 on Dzurisin's RBI single in the sixth, and she advanced to second when the Mavericks pitcher misfielded the relay throw. Hull lined a base hit to centerfield in the next at bat, scoring Madison East, who reached on a fielder's choice earlier in the inning, yet Dzurisin was called out at home after Sharon Trigilio's throw beat her by a step.
The Mavericks added an insurance run on a two-out RBI double in the seventh, and the Panthers failed to advance Betty Fratercangelo, who led off with a walk, in the bottom half of the inning.
Lewis dropped to 2-4 on the season, allowing five runs, four earned, on six hits. She walked one and struck out one. Pitt-Bradford outhit Medaille 7-6 but left four on base.
The Panthers drop to 5-13 on the season and travel to Elmira Thursday for a 3 p.m. doubleheader.
