Thirteen innings of softball were complete on Saturday before the Red Hawks located their bats, and by then it was too little, too late, as the Cardinals of SUNY-Plattsburgh swept both games of a doubleheader, 1-0 and 6-3. RPI’s record now stands at 0-11, the worst start in the 24-year history of the program.
Game one was a classic pitchers’ duel between Rensselaer’s Shannon Smith and Plattsburgh’s Tracy Mitchell, who was a bit shaky in the early going. Sophomore centerfielder Liz Vitaliano started the Red Hawks with a lead-off single. Leanna Smith later reached on an error and stole a base to give RPI runners at second and third with two outs, but Mitchell struck out Amy Huling to end the threat.
The Red Hawks’ other scoring opportunity came in the third inning. Right fielder Sarah Jurta led off with a single up the middle, and Vitaliano sacrificed her over to second. Laura Feeney then smashed a single through the left side, putting runners at the corners with only one out, but RPI could only muster a pair of weak pop-ups, coming away once again with no runs, and Mitchell had no further difficulties.
For Rensselaer, Shannon Smith kept the Cardinals off the board for most of the game, with occasional help from the defense. April Barbour nearly came around to score for Plattsburgh in the second inning after being issued a one-out walk when the next batter, Heidi Benware, smacked a double over Feeney’s head in left field. Feeney, however, quickly fired the ball back in to third baseman Kelly Romano, whose relay throw easily beat Barbour to the plate. A sinking line drive to left center was then run down by Vitaliano to retire the side.
The Cardinals broke the tie in the sixth inning when Randi Johnson singled with one out. She was sacrificed into scoring position, and Emily Seawall-Butler drove her in with a soft single to center field—just enough to hand the Red Hawks their seventh one-run loss of the season.
Game two was a blowout for six and a half innings, as Plattsburgh lit up freshman pitcher Stephanie Vanek for six runs in five innings of work. Meanwhile, Erika Clark had a two-hit shutout going for the Cardinals until the bottom of the seventh. Feeney led off for the Red Hawks and smashed a line drive right at the centerfielder, a preview of things to come.
Vanek batted next, got ahead in the count, and hit a line drive over the fence in right center, giving the Red Hawks their first run of the day. This got the team fired up, and Leanna Smith followed up with a hard single over third base, scoring on Amy Huling’s double to the left field gap. Shannon Smith singled to center, putting runners on the corners, and then Megan Porter hit a long fly ball to center, scoring Huling. A single by second baseman Marissa Crisfasi—her third of the game—brought the tying run to the plate, but Jurta’s ground ball didn’t make it through the right side of the infield, ending the scare for the Cardinals.
A scheduled doubleheader at Cazenovia on Sunday was snowed out; those games have not been rescheduled yet. The Red Hawks have a grueling stretch of 11 games in seven days coming up, with only Monday off. They will host Russell Sage for two games Thursday, travel to New Paltz and Manhattanville for doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday respectively, return to Troy to play two against Ithaca Sunday and one versus Williams Tuesday, and finally take a short trip to Albany to play two at Saint Rose next Wednesday. Their conference schedule begins the following weekend with games at Union and Skidmore.
