James McClendon, Assistant News Editor 

The Utica College Softball team went undefeated in two doubleheaders, one against SUNY Poly on Wednesday, March 23 and another against Skidmore College on Friday, March 25.

In their first matchup with cross-town rival SUNY Poly, the Pioneers won 4-3.

The first two runs of the game were scored in the fourth inning by freshman Natalie Lawrence and graduate student Stephanie Siriano after senior Cassie Smith hit a single into left field.

Later in the fourth, sophomore Madison Williams singled to right field and brought home sophomore Sabrina Stransky to give the Pioneers a 4-0 lead.

A fifth-inning Wildcat home run cut the Pioneer lead to two, but Utica was able to hold on to the lead and secure the win. Freshman pitcher Shannon Cool had one strikeout and only allowed two earned runs, giving her two wins on the season.

“Each and every one of us have a role on the team and we work together to accomplish our goals, big and small,” Cool said.

In the late game, the Pioneers cruised to the easy win over the Wildcats, winning 9-1.

UC opened up the scoring with a Smith single to center in the first inning. Siriano scored on the play.

The Wildcats tied it up in the second but that is all they would put on the board.

Seniors Abby Monroe and Alysa Russell both homered in the fourth to give the Pioneers a 5-1 lead. Freshman Nicole Rice hit a double to bring home Russell in the fifth inning for the last score of the game.

Monroe got the win and improved her record to 2-4.

In the Pioneers first game of their doubleheader with Skidmore College, UC looked to get revenge on the Thoroughbreds, after they were shutout when the two teams played in Florida over spring break.

UC struck first with a Russell home run in the first inning. The Pioneers then scored three more times in the second and third innings before the Thoroughbreds got on the board with a third inning double to right field.

Skidmore scored two more runs to bring the score to 4-3 in the sixth inning, but that is as close as they would come.

It was batting practice for the Pioneers in the seventh inning as Stransky, sophomore Dominique Soto and Russell all hit singles to bring in five more runs in the inning.

Sophomore pitcher Brittany Meka struck out two batters in 6.1 innings and was relieved by Stransky for the final two outs.

The second game of the doubleheader with Skidmore was much more one sided as the Pioneers won 11-0.

In the first inning, Siriano got the first run on the board for the Pioneers off of a double by junior Kassidy Ogren.

Rice and Ogren both doubled in the third inning to give the Pioneers a 5-0 lead. Two Thoroughbred mistakes and smart plays by the Pioneers in the fifth led to six more scores.

Monroe got the start and recorded three strikeouts on the day giving her 301 career strikeouts. Monroe is the only player in program history to get to 300 strikeouts.

UC has turned things around from its slow start and now has a record of 7-9.

“We really came together as a team after spring training and brought a lot of intensity to our games,” Stransky said. “We are all motivated to get the Empire 8 tournament and nothing will stop us from achieving that goal.”

The Pioneers return to action on Saturday, when the Pioneers travel to Rochester to take on Empire 8 opponent St. John Fisher College.

“It will be our first test to see how we will play in the conference,” assistant coach Danielle Alpi said.

The first game has a start time of 1 p.m. and the second is scheduled to start at 3 p.m.

Featured Image; Senior Alysa Russell was named Empire 8 Player of the Week for her performance. Photo taken by Jeff Pexton