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With 10 teams separated by only 2.5 games, the conference is anybody’s to claim
Written by: Robbie LaBrie
Parity is the name of the game in Northeast-10 Softball this year, and Bentley is just trying to win some games and separate from the pack.
Right now in the NE-10, after the top two teams, there are 10 teams separated by just two and a half games, meaning that pretty much anybody in the conference can rip off a string of wins and easily get to at least third place by the end of the season.
New Haven is the only undefeated team in conference play with a 14-0 record and a 24-2 overall record. Southern Connecticut sits in second at 10-2 with a cushion of a few games. Third place is where it gets all messed up.
The Falcons sit at third with a 7-5 record followed by Stonehill and Le Moyne, who are tied for fourth at 8-5 in conference play. American International and Merrimack are next at 6-6.
Eighth place is the most crowded, with Adelphi, Saint Anselm, UMass-Lowell and Southern New Hampshire all tied up at 6-7. Franklin Pierce brings up thirteenth at 5-7. Assumption, Pace, Saint Rose and Saint Michael’s bring up the rear in NE-10 play.
Where the Falcons will stand by the end of the season remains a mystery with all of the quality teams out there, but how they got there started back in March with a weeklong trip to Florida.
The softball team spent their Spring Break in Clermont, Florida gearing up for their season against competition from the New York area and other teams from across the country.
After opening the season with an 8-0 loss to Bloomsburg University, the 16th ranked team in Division II, the Falcons won back-to-back games against Post, 7-3, and Wayne State College in Nebraska, 3-1.
Junior second baseman Christine D’Amico dominated at the plate for the Falcons in the game against Wayne State, gathering five hits and four RBI in the winning effort.
The Falcons dropped their next two games to West Liberty State and West Chester before recording a solid 8-0 win over Queens. Freshman Carly Taitz threw a two-hit shutout in her first career start for Bentley and has since continued her dominance, leading the Falcons with a 1.40 ERA.
Bentley lost their last two games in the Florida trip and were scheduled to play two other games in the week, but they were rained out and the Falcons left Florida with a 3-5 record to open the season, although none of the games came against conference opponents.
The Falcons’ first scheduled game back in the Northeast was against Southern New Hampshire, but the doubleheader with the Penmen was rained out twice, as was a home doubleheader against Post.
Bentley was scheduled to begin play on March 30, but because of the rain, the opener was pushed back to April 2.
Fortunately for the Falcons, it was well worth the wait, as they got off to a nice start in winning their doubleheader against Franklin Pierce, with scores of 5-2 and 4-2 respectively.
Sophomore Tara Fogarty pitched a six-hitter for the Falcons to propel them to a win in the first game. Franklin Pierce didn’t manage to score any runs until the seventh, and final, inning, as the Falcons walked away with an easy 5-2 win.
However, the nightcap was a bit more difficult for the Falcons, as they got down 2-0 after three, but managed to put up four runs over the final three innings to seal the pair of wins.
Freshman center fielder Taylor Feery broke the 2-2 tie in the seventh with a two-run double to give the Falcons the win. Taitz picked up the win for Bentley, pitching three solid innings of relief and only giving up one hit.
The next day, Bentley split a doubleheader at home against Saint Anselm, dropping the first game 8-4 and winning the second, 5-2. Fogarty picked up another win in the second game, while sophomore third baseman Jasmine Ortiz and Feery paced the offense in the 5-2 win for the Falcons.
Bentley stayed hot in the next pair of games against Southern New Hampshire in Manchester, NH. They took down the first game easily, 7-0, but in the second game, Bentley lost a heartbreaker, 3-2.
Junior left fielder Maitlyn Kraft gave the Falcons all the offense they needed with a three-run double in the third inning, but Fogarty was again the story of the game, this time pitching a five-hit shutout.
In the second game, SNHU got three runs in the first two innings, but Bentley managed two of their own before the offense stalled out and the game went on to finish, still at 3-2.
Bentley cruised through a sweep of Saint Michael’s, the NE-10 cellar dweller, in their next doubleheader with wins of 3-2 and 9-4. Fogarty recorded her fourth straight complete game in the opener, and senior Ashley Messina got the win in the second game.
Ortiz reached base safely in both games to extend her hitting streak to a remarkable 20 straight games, just one short of the school record set by current junior second baseman Christine D’Amico in 2008.
Unfortunately, the record would come to an end in the Falcons’ next contest against American International. Bentley dropped both games to American International, 4-2 and 2-1.
On Tuesday, the skid extended to three games when the Falcons lost their opener against Stonehill, 3-1 in eight innings. But they were able to rebound in the second game to pick up a 5-1 win.
The Falcons now look ahead to a Wednesday doubleheader against Assumption and a pair of weekend doubleheaders against New Haven and Southern Connecticut, the two top teams in the NE-10.
Those weekend games should tell a lot about whether the Falcons will be able to contend for a conference championship this year, as New Haven and Southern Connecticut have clearly emerged as the teams to beat.
If the Falcons continue to ride their hot pitching and get more good productivity out of the bats of D’Amico, Ortiz, Megan Blier, Lindsay Ayers and Feery, they might just pick up a few wins this weekend, and who knows how far they can get from there.
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