Pitching Shines In Doubleheader Split With Brown

Pitching ruled the day for the Central Connecticut State softball team on Wednesday afternoon, as the Blue Devils closed out their 2025 regular season home slate with a doubleheader split against Brown University in which CCSU allowed the visiting Bears only one unearned run in the two games.  The visitors took game one, 1-0, scoring an unearned run in the top of the sixth inning, and the Blue Devils came back to score in every inning, as freshman Gracie Granate earned her first collegiate win in the nightcap allowing Brown only one hit, as Central posted a 9-0 triumph in five innings.  With the split, the Blue Devils are now 18-26 overall, and Brown is now 25-13.

Game One vs. Brown| BOX SCORE

Score:  Brown 1, CCSU 0
Records: CCSU (17-26, 12-6 NEC), Brown (25-12, 9-6 Ivy)
Location: CCSU Softball Field |New Britain, Conn.

Game Two vs. Brown| BOX SCORE

Score: CCSU 9, Brown 0-5 inns.
Records: CCSU (18-26, 12-6 NEC), Brown (25-13, 9-6 Ivy)
Location: CCSU Softball Field |New Britain, Conn.

KEY MOMENTS WEDNESDAY'S OPENER:

• Wednesday's opener was a tru pitchers' duel between the Blue Devils' Alina Varga and Brown's Alexia Guevara, as neither team scored through the first five innings.
• The visiting Bears scored the only run of game one when a two-out double plated and unearned run.
• Central made things interesting in the bottom of the seventh inning loading the bases on a single by Reagan Vunak, Abby Meehan reaching on an error and Ava Cino drawing a walk, but the hosts could not push at least the tying run across the plate.
• CCSU was limited to only two hits in the opener, as Ashlyn Desaulniers had the Blue Devils other safety.
• Alina Varga (5-13) was truly a hard-luck loser in game one for Central, as she pitched a complete game in which she allowed only an unearned run on four hits with three strikeouts and three walks.

KEY MOMENTS FROM WEDNESDAY'S GAME TWO WIN:

• The Blue Devils, who scored in all four innings in which they batted in game two, got on the board quickly in the nightcap scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI-double by Reagan Vunak and a sacrifice fly by Joslyn Teal.
• CCSU added three more runs in the bottom of the second to up its advantage to 5-0 scoring on a wild pitch, and RBI-single by Vunak and a sacrifice fly by Kassandra (KC) Machado.
• The runs kept coming for the Blue Devils in the third inning; first scoring on a Brown error and the getting an RBI-single from Ashlyn Desaulniers.
• The team's third sacrifice fly of game two, this time from Grace Lawton, and an RBI-single from Sophia LoPiccolo wrapped up the scoring for CCSU in the fourth inning.
• Freshman Gracie Granate (1-3) was outstanding in the pitching circle in game two earing her first collegiate win, as she blanked the Bears on only one hit with with strikeouts and no walks in her five innings of work.  Granate did not allow a base runner to advance to second base in her gem.
• As a team, CCSU had 12 hits in the game two victory led by a 3-for-3 performance by Reagan Vunak, and two hits apiece from Ashlyn Desaulniers and Kassandra (KC) Machado.

UP NEXT:

• The Blue Devils close out their 2025 regular season with an important Northeast Conference series on the road versus LIU with seeding in this year's conference championship tournament at stake.  The series is scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday, April 26 followed by a single game on Sunday. April 27 at 12 noon.