Hartford softball turns up heat

Originally Posted on The Hartford Informer via UWIRE

Junior pitcher Zuzana Kudernatschova hurled her team to another win as the Hawks have caught fire late. Brian Izzo | The Informer

Junior pitcher Zuzana Kudernatschova hurled her team to another win as the Hawks have caught fire late. Brian Izzo | The Informer

Over the weekend the Hartford Hawks softball team had a series with the Boston University Terriers.

The three game set would be the last series these two teams would play as conference rivals. Hartford ended up winning the series 2-1 over Boston University.

Both squads took a game a piece in a Saturday doubleheader.

In the first game, the Terriers won 5-4 after scoring three runs in the last two innings.

In the second game of the doubleheader, the Hawks took care of business with a 5-4 victory.

The win came behind a two run single in the third inning by third baseman Jackie Kelly.

She picked up two RBIs with a single up the middle and a third run came across the plate after an error.

With the two teams splitting a doubleheader on Saturday that left the Sunday tilt as the rubber game.

After scoring two runs in the bottom of the first, the Hawks were sitting pretty.

By tacking on a third run in the bottom of the fourth, Hartford took a 3-0 lead into the fifth inning. That is when the Terriers’ bats woke up.

With a leadoff double by second baseman Emily Roesch, Boston University quickly had a runner in scoring position.

Two batters later she scored, but the Hawks were still clinging to a two run lead.

The Terriers had runners on first and second with two outs, Hartford was almost out of the inning, but then designated hitter Lauren Haynes stepped up to the plate.

She promptly tripled  down the right field line and two runners on base scored to tie the game at three.

The bleeding would be stopped there but the damage was done.

The score would remain knotted at three until the bottom of the seventh.

After Boston University pitching recorded the first two outs of the inning, and extra innings appeared imminent.

Left fielder Jenice Aloyo singled to right field and allowed the Hawks to keep the game going. That brought shortstop and cleanup hitter Kate Wacyk to the plate.

It didn’t take long for her to see a pitch that she liked. When she saw that pitch she smacked it to left field for a home run.

The home run allowed the Hawks to walk off with a 5-3 win and a 2-1 series win.

Wacyk’s home run was her second of the season and the 10 of her career.

The win improved Hartford to 12-21 on the season and 4-5 in America East play.

Despite still sitting below .500 the victory allowed the Hawks to improve on their win total from last season.

With 19 games still remaining this season Hartford still has room to improve even more.

After winning their 12 game of the season it gave the Hawks their highest win total since the 2010 season when they won 16 games.

Hartford is currently sitting fourth in the America East standings. They trail Albany, Binghamton, and Stony Brook. Of those teams, Binghamton is the only team the

Hawks still have games left against.

So if they want to improve their conference standing they will need some outside help.

The games against the Bearcats of Binghamton will be home games for Hartford.

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