by Kimberly Pena
Led by Karleigh Edward’s three RBI and Sarah Ogilvie’s two RBI afternoon, the Blue Devils stomped over Mount St. Mary’s University with an 11-1 victory. On a partly sunny Friday afternoon, Central Connecticut State University took advantage of Marian Ruf’s poor outing to improve their record to 9-19 for the season.
The damage began in the first inning when Alexis Debrosse led off the inning with a walk, after a pass ball and a strikeout to Brittany Camara, Britanny McNulla followed up with an RBI single. One batter later, Edward hit an RBI double to make the score 2-0. Ogilvie then hit an RBI single to make it 3-0.
Pitcher Alexandra Casañas continued her streak of good pitching, only allowing one run over five-innings, three hits, two walks and a strikeout. Casañas has now won three straight starts, permitting four earned runs over a span of 20 innings, dropping her ERA to 3.59.
“Alex does a great job of hitting her spots and keeping hitters off balance with her off speed pitches, said Edwards. “She is an important part of our pitching staff along with our two other pitchers.”
In the second inning, the Blue Devils increased their lead with Debrosse doing some of the damage with a two-run home, scoring Alicia Bertolino to make the score 5-0. It is Debrosse’s fourth homerun of the year.
But the big blow came in the fourth-inning, when CCSU sent 10 batters to the plate, scoring six runs on an already shaky Ruf. Tori Constantin led off the inning with a double, while Bertolino reached on a defensive misplay by second baseman Morgan Alisauckas. Two outs later, Camra walked to load the bases and McNulla walked to bring in a run.
With the bases still loaded, Kerri Dadalski singled in two more runs and advanced to second on the throw, extending the lead 8-0. The power duo of Edwards and Ogilvie came to bat back-to-back, with Edwards bringing in two more runs and Ogilvie scoring Edwards to end the afternoon for Ruf.
“I think in those situations I am just looking for a good pitch to drive in runners with,” said Edwards.
“Our offense can be extremely powerful and dangerous when everyone works together to string along some hits and puts pressure on the defense,” said Ogilvie.
Ruf’s final line was three and two-third innings, 11 runs, five earned, four walks and three strikeouts, giving her five losses in the season versus two wins.
Casañas kept the Mountaineers hitless in the last two innings, ending the game after five innings.
Moving forward, the team knows there are still changes to be made to continue on the success like Friday afternoon’s victory.
” I think that our team needs to continue to stay focused on both offense and defense and take it one game at a time, not thinking too far in advance,” said Edwards.
But the team knows if they can stick together, they can do just that.
“Our team chemistry is great both on and off the field,” said Ogilvie. “We all have so much fun during practices and games; we all get along really well and all want to play and win for one another.”
The Blue Devils go on to face Saint Francis University on Sunday, April, 23, in a double-header. First pitch for game one is set for 12 p.m.