By Gilbert Celaya, QBSN Staff Writer
The Quinnipiac Bobcats softball team lost in its home opener against the University of Connecticut by a score of 6-1 on Tuesday afternoon. The sole run for the Bobcats came in the second inning when Nikki Barba (San Diego, CA) scored off of a Jordan Paolucci (Lake Mary, FL) sacrifice fly.
Starting pitcher, Hannah Lindsley (Narragansett, R.I.), kept damage to a minimum early on, only giving up a double in the first inning. Then Bobcats head coach Germaine Fairchild decided to replace Lindsley in the third inning with Molly Jarrett (Northport, N.Y.). This pitching change did not benefit the Bobcats.
Jarrett quickly recorded two outs in every inning, but struggled to gain the third out. UConn took advantage of Jarrett’s inability to close out innings.
The Huskies scored on a two-run homerun with two outs in the second inning off the bat of Emily O’Donnell. Then UConn scored two runs again with two outs in the fourth inning. In the final inning, Bobcat pitcher Katie Alfiere (Beacon Falls, Conn.) gave up another two runs with two outs, which put the game out of reach for the Huskies. Jarrett was credited with the lose as all three Bobcats pitchers allowed six runs on 13 hits, and walked four UConn batters.
Fairchild expressed that the Bobcats need to be more forceful when trying to get the third out of an inning.
“Something we’ve got to work on when we have two outs we’ve got to get ahead of the next batter. It’s so much easier to pitch when you’re ahead of the hitter, and you’re much more aggressive as a pitcher when you’re ahead,” Fairchild said.
Fairchild revealed her strategy for removing Lindsley, but realized that her relief pitcher had trouble closing innings.
“My plan was to have [Lindsley] pitch one time through the order, put in a different look, and then put her back in. However, when Molly went in, she did a great job of getting two outs, but then she had trouble with two outs,” Fairchild said.
Fairchild knows that her team cannot allow the opposition to capitalize with two outs.
“Allowing an inning to continue can unravel quickly at this level. They’re young and they need to learn by doing and kind of get the experience the hard way,” Fairchild said.
Fairchild did express her confidence in her pitching scheme.
“It’s actually a strategy we picked up watching USF [University of South Florida go through the College World Series last season. Actually, strategically it was working. Our pitchers just have to get used to it. We just have to go out there and execute it now. I think it can help us down the stretch.”
With the loss against UCon, Quinnipiac now falls to 5-18 on the season. Quinnipiac’s next game is on Wednesday against the same UCONN team in Storrs, Conn. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
Fairchild hopes her team can produce a better outing against the same Huskie team, and possibly against the same pitcher Quinnipiac faced on Tuesday.
“I fully expect to see [Kiki Saveriano] again, and I hope we do. It’s a good opportunity for [UCONN] to get a win,” Fairchild said. “Our offense needs to learn that we’ve got to put some runs on other teams. We’re not a one run or two run ball club right now. Our team knows we’ve probably got to score three runs or more to win games.”
