Softball Sees Season End In NEC Championship Game

The Central Connecticut State softball team got the tying run to second base in the seventh inning, but could not draw even, falling 5-4 to Wagner in the NEC Championship Game. The loss ends the Blue Devils season with 28 wins and a championship round appearance. 

Wagner struck for two runs in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead, having rallied back from a 4-2 deficit after Ashlyn Desaulniers homerun in the fifth inning. 

Stella Gasper, Hailey Strunk and Grace Lawton were named to the All-Tournament Team 

GAME INFORMATION | BOX SCORE 
Score: Wagner 5, CCSU 4 
Pitching Record: W: Zavala (11-7)  | L: Hamilton (16-8) | Save - - 
Records: CCSU (28-19, 20-4 NEC), Wagner (22-26, 14-10 NEC) 
Location: LIU Softball Complex | Brooklyn, NY 

KEY MOMENTS  

• Sydney Trujillo put Wagner on top four batters into the game, with a double to left center field that plated a pair of runners in the bottom of the first inning. 

• Kristina Bozek gave the Blue Devils their first hit, with two out in the third inning after Lotus retired the first eight batters in order. 

• Sophia LoPiccolo robbed Leilani Gonzales of a two-run homerun to end the third inning and the Blue Devils offense responded in the top of the fourth. Ava Cino and Grace Lawton had consecutive one-out singles to setup Joslyn Teal two batters later to hit a three-run go-ahead homerun. 

• Skylar Warn made a diving stop, to her right, and fired to first to retire Ava Nawrocki to end the fourth inning 

• Ashlyn Desaulniers added a run in the top of the fifth, driving a ball over the left center field fence to five the Blue Devils a 4-2 advantage 

• Wagner loaded the bases with no outs, but Liz Hamilton induced a pair of ground balls, including a 5-5-3 double play started by Stella Gasper and closed by a leaping catch from Grace Lawton to allow just one run and hold onto a 4-3 advantage 

• Lawton and Gasper led off with back-to-back singles, and after a strikeout Warn was hit by a pitch to load the bases, but LoPiccolo grounded into a double play to end the inning 

• Wagner had back-to-back hits to start the sixth, with Addison Day's single scoring Gonzales. Day advanced to third on a passed ball. Day scored on a Morales single to right three batters later to put Wagner on top, 5-4.  

NOTES 

• Seven Blue Devils had a hit on Saturday morning, led by the 2-3 effort from Grace Lawton 

• Hailey Strunk started for the Blue Devils and went 4+ innings, fanning one and walking none, while allowing three runs on seven hits 

• Central had two homeruns on Saturday, and hit six in the last three games of the tournament, scoring 19 runs in those games 

• Lawton finished with 13 homeruns and 45 RBI, both single-season school records 

• Morales was 3-4 with two runs scored for the Seahawks 

• Karson Zavala earned the win in the circle, pitching 2.0 innings of scoreless relief without giving up a hit 

• Wagner earns its first-ever NEC Championship in softball and will reprsent the NEC in the NCAA Tournament