Softball Drops Two, Heads North for Weekend

The Columbia softball team was swept in both games against Rider University on Thursday, dropping their record to 12-16 overall.

In game one, the Lions were able to score first in the bottom of the second inning. Right fielder Dani Pineda hit a one-out single, advanced to second on third baseman Karen Tulig’s infield single, and came around to score on second baseman Chantee Dempsey’s RBI single. Tulig was tagged out at home to end the inning with the Lions ahead 1-0.

Maggie Johnson, who pitched two shutouts over the weekend against Brown and Yale, was not able to maintain the slim lead. She allowed her first home run of the year when Rider second baseman Candice Harris launched a three-run shot in the top of the fifth inning to give the Broncos a two-run lead.

The Lions only managed one hit after that, and a ninth-inning rally ended when Johnson lined out to shortstop in the team’s final at-bat. Johnson dropped to 8-5 on the season, while surrendering five hits and three walks through 5 2/3 innings. Aimee Kemp threw 1 1/3 innings of shutout ball in relief.

Offensively, the team’s hitting continued to falter in game two, as the Lions were unable to put a single run on the board for the seventh time this season. The Lions managed just three hits and suffered five strikeouts through six innings, leaving a total of seven runners stranded on base.

The team’s pitching was not much better as freshman Erica Clauss surrendered six runs off of seven hits in her first loss of the season. Kemp allowed three hits and two earned runs in an inning of relief. Rider’s Jessica Holland cruised through six innings to win her second game this season.

Columbia has a chance to put away the bitter taste of these home losses this weekend when they travel to New England for their first conference road contests of the year with doubleheaders at Harvard and Dartmouth.

Head coach Kayla Noonan believes that the team’s first 22 games of the year should help them in these four important conference games away from home.

“We’ve played on the road several times already,” she said. “Everybody has their pregame rituals to focus and they know when it’s time to play.”

Against Harvard, Columbia’s pitching will need to focus on outfielder Jennifer Francis. The sophomore leads her team with a .348 batting average, three home runs, and 17 RBI’s.

The Lions face the Crimson at noon and 2 p.m. on Saturday and the Big Green at noon and 2 p.m. on Sunday.