Light Blue Splits Doubleheader Against Fairleigh Dickinson

The Columbia softball team was able to snap its 11-game losing streak on Tuesday when it split its doubleheader with Fairleigh Dickinson University.

After last weekend’s sweep at the hands of Princeton, head coach Kayla Noonan was particularly disappointed with the initial lack of intensity in the games that led to early deficits.

“We have to jump out and score first,” she said. “We have to ride momentum.”

The Lions were able to do just that, jumping out to an early lead after Maggie Johnson retired three of the first four hitters she faced. She returned to form, allowing five hits and striking out four in seven shutout innings to improve her record to 9-8.

Leadoff hitter Jackie Ecker drew a 3-2 count before she was hit by a pitch to advance to first. She took advantage of a throwing error by opposing third baseman Lindsay Glidden to come around and score the game’s first run.

The Light Blue continued its first inning rally, scoring two runs in the inning with two outs. Ciji Rich and Johnson drew back-to-back walks and Leanne Penna advanced on a muffed throw by the Knights’ first baseman Kristen Coughlan, scoring Rich.

Freshman catcher Anne Marie Skylis scored her battery mate Johnson with an RBI single and Penna was called out at second base to end the inning with the Lions on top 3-0.

Danielle Pineda scored in the bottom of the sixth inning after she was hit by a pitch on Rich’s one out double to add on an insurance run late in the game, which the Lions won 4-0.

In the nightcap, the Knights jumped on starter Erica Clauss, who surrendered four runs off six hits in 1 1/3 innings. She was charged with her third loss of the year in a 6-3 defeat. Aimee Kemp pitched 3 2/3 innings, allowing one earned run, and Johnson followed with two more shutout innings for the evening.

The Light Blue cut the lead down to just a run in the first inning. After junior Keli Leong’s single, Pineda slammed her first home run of the year, a two-run shot, to right-center field. The Knights scored again in the second inning, but the Lions rallied again with Chantee Dempsey’s leadoff double in the fifth. Rich singled Dempsey home to cut the lead down again, 4-3.

Fairleigh Dickinson responded with two runs of their own in the next frame to take a three-run lead it would not relinquish, and the Lions dropped their 25th game of the season.

The Lions travel to Ithaca, NY this weekend in a four-game series against Cornell.