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Devils End NCAA Run, Fall 3-1 in Ithaca
| (Ithaca, N.Y.) - The #7-seeded Dickinson College softball suffered its second loss in the 2010 NCAA Softball Regional Tournament on Friday. The Red Devils, making their first appearance in the NCAA Playoffs, dropped a 3-1 setback to #6-seed Polytechnic Institute of New York. | |
The Red Devils struck early, scoring in the top of the first inning. Senior Mary Kate Flannery (Westfield, N.J./Westfield) led off the game with a single. She came around to score on a one-out double from junior Emma Murtaugh (Holmdel, N.J./Holmdel) to put the Devils on the board.
Polytechnic scored a pair of third-inning runs to erase the early lead. After a leadoff single by senior center fielder Natasha Taylor, first-year shortstop Shelby Bruns beat out a bunt and advanced to third on an error, with Taylor scoring the tying run.
Right fielder Annamaire Smith followed with an RBI double to bring in the go-ahead run.
First-year catcher Natalia Stockinger, who had two of the Fighting Blue Jays' six hits, led off the fourth with a single then scored an insurance run on a passed ball after advancing to third on a pair of infield outs.
Allison Jordan (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) turned in another strong performance for the Red Devils, recording seven strikeouts, scattering six hits on the day. She allowed just one earned run, finishing 12-5 on the season.
Miranda Merilli improved to 22-7 with the win for Polytechnic. She surrendered five hits while recording five strikeouts. Smith and Stockinger each went 2-for-3 in the win.
The Red Devils finish the season 19-19 overall, winning their first Centennial Conference Championship to earn the program's first bid to the NCAA Tournament.
