Softball Swept in Season-Opening Doubleheader at Pirate Classic

Friday, February 10

Greenville, N.C.

10:00 a.m.

Drexel University

Virginia

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Softball Swept in Season-Opening Doubleheader at Pirate Classic

2/10/2012 2:12:00 PM | Softball

VIRGINIA BOX SCORE
CANISIUS BOX SCORE

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The Drexel softball team got its 2012 season underway on Friday at the Pirate Classic on the campus of East Carolina University. The Dragons faced Virginia and Canisius in the event, dropping the opener to Virginia 5-2 and the second game to Canisius, 4-1.

Shelby Taylor took the loss for Drexel (0-2) in Game One, with Hillary Allen taking the defeat in the second game.

The first game was a pitcher's duel, with Taylor working her way in and out of trouble through the first four scoreless innings. In the fifth, however, the Dragons retired the first two Virginia batters before the Cavaliers broke through. Erica Cipolloni singled and stole second, and Stephanie Harris walked. Alex Skinkis then lined a single to center field, plating both runners.

The Cavaliers added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh, which would prove crucial as the frame flipped to the bottom half. Hillary Allen led things off with a single laced down the left field line. With Amanda Bachmann pinch running, Jenn Reading knocked a single of her own to left, putting runners on first and second.

Freshman Maggy Fermo then stepped to the plate as a pinch hitter, making her first appearance for the Dragons. She prompted pulled a hard grounder down the third base line which Virginia third baseman Megan Harris couldn't handle, making everyone safe. Sylvia Llamas, who already had two hits in her first two collegiate at bats, worked the count full before drawing a walk to force home Bachmann with the Dragons' first run.

Caprice DeMirjian was up next, lining a base hit to right field that plated Reading and kept the bases loaded. With still no one out, the Dragons looked like they might be able to charge all the way back and even things up or walk off with a win, but the next two batters grounded into fielder's choices that erased Fermo and Llamas at the plate, and Devon Metcalf's blast to center field ended up as a long out as it was corralled by center fielder Giannina Cipolloni for the third and final out.

Canisius took an early 2-0 lead in the second game in a first inning that featured a hit-by-pitch and wild pitch. Although the Dragons settled down from there, they could manage just one run, scored by DeMirjian on an illegal pitch in the third inning, as the Golden Griffins tacked on two more to take a 4-1 decision.

The Dragons will return to action at the Pirate Classic on Saturday, when they face Virginia for a second time as well as host East Carolina. First pitch against the Cavaliers is set for noon, while the Dragons and Pirates will face off at 4:00 p.m.