The Quinnipiac Bobcats dropped both games of a doubleheader against the Canisius Golden Griffins in their final outing of the season. Quinnipiac suffered a narrow 5-4 loss in game one, but were completely overtaken by Canisius in game two, falling 6-2.
It was also senior day for the Bobcats as they honored the lone player graduating at the conclusion of this season. Katie Alfiere was honored prior to the start of the doubleheader.
“She’s helped us out in many ways, to learn about things as far as traditions and stuff with Quinnipiac softball. As well as create some new traditions and made a solid foundation for the young players on the team and showed great leadership throughout the year to help us develop a good, solid program as we move forward in the future,” assistant coach Bill Vasko said of Alfiere.
In the first half of game one, Canisius scored a run in every inning to lead Quinnipiac 4-0 after four innings. However, in the bottom of the fifth the Bobcats broke out with their biggest inning of the day with three players crossing home plate.
Molly Jarrett earned the Bobcat’s first two RBI’s of the game, before a double by Keilani Finely scored Jarrett. Quinnipiac closed out the fifth inning coming within one run of Canisius, 4-3.
A scoreless sixth inning for both teams left it up to the seventh inning for the Bobcats to complete their comeback. The Bobcats allowed one run in the top of the seventh inning giving the Golden Griffins a two run lead entering the bottom of the seventh.
With two outs in the seventh inning, Abbey Johnson stepped up to bat for the Bobcats. Johnson got an infield single, scoring Kathryn Vitale. Once again the Bobcats cut the Grifins lead to one, 5-4.
Unfortunately for the Bobcats, that is how the game would end. Canisius pitcher Jen Consaul struck out Quinnipiac’s Jordan Paolucci to seal the win.
The Golden Griffins started out game two fast when a single by Lindsey Silfer scored Michelle Delprince to earn the first run of the game. Despite going up 1-0 early, the Bobcats held the Golden Griffins scoreless for the next three innings. However, Quinnipiac also struggled to get runners on base, leaving the score at 1-0 starting the fifth inning.
Canisius exploded in the fifth inning, scoring five times. The commanding 6-0 lead would eventually prove too much for Quinnipiac to overcome.
In the bottom of the sixth inning the Bobcats chipped away at the lead scoring two runs. Hannah Lindsley managed to bring in both Dani Edmonds and Sydney Robey for the Bobcat’s only runs of the game. A scoreless seventh inning completed the doubleheader with a 6-2 for Canisius.
Quinnipiac finished its first year in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in ninth place.
“If you look at the MAAC this year it was very competitive top to bottom, with almost everybody having a shot going into the last week,” Vasko said. “There’s nobody that really stepped forward to take control of the league so that’s encouraging knowing what we have coming back next year and what we have coming in as incoming freshman that we’ll be able to come in and compete for the conference right away.”
First year head coach Jill Karwoski ended the season with an overall record of 11-36 and 6-14 conference record.
