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SCC softball splits
Mighty Oaks rally from bad loss in opener to win nightcap, earn important Region XIX split with Delaware Tech
SUNDAY SOFTBALL Delaware Tech 17-6, Salem CC 0-9 RCSJ-Gloucester at Suffolk Corning at Lackawanna Brookdale 20-10, Chesapeake 6-2 Dutchess at Middlesex Bloomfield at Camden
By Riverview Sports News
GEORGETOWN, Del. — The Salem CC softball team didn’t let an absolute thumping in the first game get them down and rallied from an early deficit to win the nightcap and earn a split with region heavyweight Delaware Tech.
The Mighty Oaks put together a six-run rally in the fourth inning of the nightcap to win the getaway game 9-6 after losing the opener 17-0.
It was the first time this season they went on the road without head coach Angel Rodriguez. The fourth-year coach remained back in South Jersey awaiting surgery after suffering a heart attack in his office late last week.
“We always tell the girls that Game 1 doesn’t define Game 2,” interim head coach Mackenzie Freas said. “In our day-to-day lives our mornings may be rough, but that doesn’t definitely our nighttime or our entire day. Reset and recover.”
The Mighty Oaks fell behind in the first inning of the second game 3-0, but came to life in the fourth inning and scored six runs with the help of three bases-loaded walks.
Jocelyn Melendez got the rally started with a leadoff double and scored the first run off back-to-back one-out singles by Chantelle Haskie and Jalyn Rambally. Haskie stole home on a double steal with Rambally. The Mighty Oaks tied it and then took the lead on back-to-back bases-loaded walks to Emme Witter and Megan Koski and extended the lead when the Roadrunners misplayed Savannah Palverento’s grounder to short and a bases-loaded walk to Bella Rappa.
Jordyn Busch gave the Mighty Oaks a shutdown inning in the bottom of the fourth, setting the Roadrunners down in order for the second time in the game. Busch gave up two hits and two walks in the first inning, then two hits and two walks until the seventh when the Roadrunners put together a threat that brought the tying run to the plate. She struck out nine.
The Mighty Oaks made it 7-3 in the fifth when Lilly Peverelle scored on a passed ball and added two more in the seventh on Witter’s sacrifice fly and an RBI single by Melendez.
“The girls were ready to start fresh in Game 2 and you could tell right off the bat,” Freas said. “Those three runs in the first inning didn’t definite the whole rest of the game.
“In that big inning we kept preaching patience and baserunners. The girls fought for one another, picked each other up and were one another’s biggest fans.”
In the first game, Abby Marsh held the Mighty Oaks to two hits — a first-inning single by J.J. Aguirre and a fifth-inning double by Savannah Palverento — three base runners and got 10 strikeouts among her 15 outs. She retired 11 in a row between the two hits.
The Roadrunners pounded 20 hits against two Salem pitchers. They reached the run-rule threshold in the third inning, then turned it into a rout with nine runs in the fourth. Mary Maichle went 4-for-4 with five RBIs, Madison Fox went 3-for-4 with three RBIs, Madison Myers went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and four other players each had two hits.
The loss snapped a six-game winning streak.
The Mighty Oaks have two more road doubleheaders scheduled this week before returning to Watson Field Saturday for a scheduled noon twin bill against Morris.
Riverview Sports News 