Emmitsburg, Md. (March 18, 2023)--Mount St. Mary's split a pair of games at its home tournament on Saturday at Our Lady of the Meadows Field on campus.  The Mount opened the day with a 5-2 victory over UAlbany before falling to Lafayette, 4-2, in the second game of the day.

MOUNT ST. MARY'S 5, UALBANY 2

Abigayle Perry hit a go-ahead home run in the bottom of the fifth inning to spark the Mount to a 5-2 win over UAlbany in the first game of the day.  The Mount trailed 2-1 midway through the game before rallying for the victory.  Maggie Kane and Tori Bowles each had two hits in the victory.

The Great Danes (4-8) took the lead with an unearned run in the top of the first inning.  The Mount was able to even the score with a run in the bottom of the second.  Kassidy Johnson was hit by a pitch with one out, and she came all the way around the bases on a Bowles two-out double to tie the score at 1-1.

After UAlbany's Morgan Petty homered to right center field in the top of the fourth to put the Great Danes back ahead, the Mount was able to plate a run in the bottom of the inning to tie the score again.  Kaia Bonshock doubled to open the inning, moved to third on a Johnson groundout, and she scored on a wild pitch.

Perry put the Mount on top with a solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the fifth.  Her drive down the left field line stayed fair to give the Mount a 3-2 lead.  Mount St. Mary's (9-12) a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth.  The Mount had runners on second and third with one out after a pair of UAlbany errors.  Julia Vincent followed with a perfectly placed squeeze bunt for an RBI single to make it 4-2, and Bowles added to the lead with an RBI single.

Avery Neuhart improved to 3-2 on the season with a complete-game effort.  The graduate student allowed one earned run in seven innings of work, allowing five hits while compiling three strikeouts.  Kane finished the game 2-for-2 at the plate while Bowles was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI.

LAFAYETTE 4, MOUNT ST. MARY'S 2

Lafayette scored four times in the top of the sixth inning and held on for a 4-2 win over the Mount in the second game of the day. 

The game started as a pitcher's duel between the Mount's Maddie Coleman and Lafayette's Kailee Sawai as there was just one hit combined between the two teams over the first five innings.  Lafayette's Harlie Bickett opened the game with a hit batsmen, but was later erased on a caught stealing.  From there, the Mount's Coleman was in charge, retiring the Leopards in order over the next four innings to carry a no-hitter into the top of the sixth.

Megan Coyle led off the sixth with a single up the middle to break up Coleman's no-hit bid.  After a strikeout, Grace Hausamann moved pinch runner Jasmine Nguyen to second with a sacrifice bunt.  Bickett followed by driving the ball off the fence in left field to plate Nguyen with the first run of the game.  The throw to second from the outfield went over the second baseman's head and all the way into right field, allowing Bickett to come all the way home for a 2-0 advantage.  Kylie Sweet was then hit by a pitch that ended Coleman's day in the circle.  Paige Sandidge then greeted reliever Olivia Murphy with a two-run homer to make it a 4-0 game.

The Mount finally got to Lafayette starter Sawai in the bottom of the sixth.  Sawai allowed a bunt single to Abigayle Perry in the bottom of the first, but did not allow a hit over the next four innings to take a one-hitter into the bottom of the sixth.  With two outs and no one on base, Perry drew a walk and moved to second on a Maggie Kane base hit.  Kaia Bonshock followed with a single to right center field to plate Perry.  The throw home went to the backstop, but the Leopards were able to recover and get Kane out at the plate to end the inning.

The Mountaineers rallied in the bottom of the seventh, but could not complete the comeback.  Bowles doubled to open the the frame, and pinch runner Zoe Truxon moved to third on a Mariah Godde base hit.  Vanessa Martin then reached on an error by Lafayette's second baseman to bring home Truxon to make it a 4-2 game.  Lafayette brought in Morrigan Gardiner relief, and with two outs, Julia Vincent reached on an infield single to third base that loaded the bases for Perry.  Gardiner was able to retire Perry on a fly out to right field to earn the save.

Coleman struck out eight while allowing three runs and four hits in 5.2 innings pitched.  Murphy allowed one run in 1.2 innings of relief.

UP NEXT:  The Mount Softball Tournament concludes tomorrow with three more games.  The games have been pushed back one hour with UAlbany and Lafayette beginning the day at 11:00 a.m.  The Mount will host UAlbany at 1:00 p.m. and will close the day against Lafayette at 3:00 p.m.