QU Softball Splits MAAC Home Opener with Saint Peter's, 1-0 and 8-2

Sunday, April 2

Hamden, Conn.

12:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

11-15, 0-1

Saint Peter's University

2-11, 1-0

Saint Peter's

Quinnipiac

QU Softball Splits MAAC Home Opener with Saint Peter's, 1-0 and 8-2

4/2/2017 4:54:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: QU Sports Information

HAMDEN, Conn - The Quinnipiac softball team split a doubleheader at home with Saint Peter's to open up MAAC play, falling 1-0 in game one and winning game two 8-2, on Sunday afternoon.

With the split, Quinnipiac moves to 12-15 (1-1 MAAC) on the season, while Saint Peter's moves to 2-13 (1-1 MAAC).

Quinnipiac dropped the first game of the doubleheader, but Casey Herzog (Wappinger Falls, New York) had an incredible performance on the mound, going the distance, allowing only a run on four hits, while striking out six.

The Bobcats' bats came alive in game two to score eight runs on 13 hits. Taylor Troyan (Boca Raton, Florida) went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and Keala Cordeiro (Huntington Beach, California) went 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Miranda Magana (Santa Paula, California), Sarah Heimbach (Greenwich, New York) and Emily Czaja (Palmer, Massachusetts) each added an RBI apiece.

Quinnipiac got on the board first after Cordeiro belted a triple in the bottom of the first to score Erin Larsen (Kissimmee, Florida) to give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead.

Freshman pitcher Abbey Long (Eau Claire, Wisconsin) surrendered two runs in the top of the second, but that would be the only trouble she ran into during her start.

Quinnipiac bounced back in the bottom of the second after Troyan doubled, scoring Rachel Marchuk (San Ramon, California) to to the game at two. Czaja immediately followed with a line-drive single to score Troyan, giving Quinnipiac the lead for good.

The Bobcats rallied in the third inning to pad their lead and to give Long some run support. Rebecca Drake (Whiting, New Jersey) started the rally with a leadoff double, followed by a Cordeiro single to drive in Drake. Four batters later, Troyan stepped to the dish with one out and the bases loaded. She then singled to score Lexi Courtney (Scappoose, Oregon) and Heimbach to give Quinnipiac a 6-2 lead. Two batters later, Magana drilled a single to the outfield, scoring Marchuk to give the Bobcats a 7-2 lead.

Quinnipiac tacked on one more run in the fourth inning after Cordeiro hit a double then advanced to third after a groundout. Heimbach then came to the dish looking for an RBI and she delivered in a big way. As the pitch came to the plate, Cordeiro took off from third and Heimbach dropped a bunt. The suicide squeeze worked to perfection as Cordeiro was safe at home and Heimbach was safe at first.

After surrendering two runs in the second inning, Long settled in and cruised to her sixth victory of the season. Long went six innings, gave up two runs and struck out five batters.

The Bobcats will be back in action on Monday, April 3, when Quinnipiac hosts MAAC rival Rider in a doubleheader at the QU Softball field with game one set to begin at 1 p.m.