The Quinnipiac Bobcats softball team looked to salvage the final game of a three-game set Sunday against the Niagara Purple Eagles, with Sydney Horan starting the game for Quinnipiac and Maddie Hickingbottom getting the start for Niagara.
Lindsay Mayo worked a walk to start the game and the Purple Eagles quickly had two runners in scoring position with one out in the top of the first. Two runs came in on an error by Ella McGalliard after a groundball by Shayna Myshrall skirted into the outfield. Horan would get the next two batters to ground out to limit the damage.
In the bottom half, the Bobcats got the bases loaded off a fielder’s choice by Mary Fogg, a single by Brooke Hilliard and a walk by Taylor Walton. Quinnipiac would capitalize with an Ally Hochstadler sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Fogg. A two-run double by Hannah Davis scoring Hilliard and Walton gave the Bobcats a 3-2 lead.
“I love Hannah, she’s just been through so much,” Quinnipiac head coach Hillary Smith said on Davis’s play this season. “She was in a really bad car accident, and we weren’t even sure if she was going to be able to play again…for her to be able to do this and have the season she’s having, the best in her career, is just honestly amazing.”
In the top of the second, Niagara responded, tying the game at three off an RBI double by Mayo, scoring Selah Moyer. The Purple Eagles would retake the lead in the top of the third on an RBI double from Sophia Marrero, scoring Brianna Delaney. Niagara would add on further with RBIs on a ground out to first by Selah Moyer and a double in the gap by Maggie Kellner.
The Bobcats would put two runners in scoring position during the top of the fifth but were unable to capitalize with Walton grounding out and Hochstadter stringing out swinging. Niagara would add on in the top of the sixth, with runs coming in on a double by Marrero and a single by Natasha Limbani making the score 9-3 Purple Eagles.
Quinnipiac struggled all game with knocking runners in.
“I think that Niagara’s pitcher did really great job, used her changeup really well, she was keeping us off-balance,” Smith said. “We just need to do a better job at making adjustments.”
After the game, Smith commented on how the Bobcats would improve in pressure-filled situations.
“(We need to) keep trying to get in situations in practice where they have to step up in pressure situations, that’s what we’re doing tomorrow going into the Fairfield series,” Smith said. “I know that we can do it, we just gotta be able to execute it in the game when it matters most.”
Horan would leave after the sixth, ending up with one strikeout while giving up eleven hits, seven earned runs and two walks. The Bobcats put two runners on in the bottom of the sixth, pushing Hickingbottom out of the game. She was replaced by Julie Thompson, but Hickingbottom earned a line five and two-thirds innings with two strikeouts, while giving up seven hits, three earned runs and two walks.
The Bobcats got a run back in the seventh on a double by Davis, but Thompson would close out the game. Niagara would finish the sweep and win the game 9-4. The Bobcats will next be in action at Fairfield on Tuesday at 2 p.m.
“We know we still have a race to make the (MAAC) tournament, that’s really what our mindset has been all year, it’s just ‘Make the MAAC Tournament, make the MAAC tournament, do whatever it takes,’” Smith said.
