By Anthony Bosco
The Queens College women’s softball team dropped two of three games to C.W. Post in the New York Collegiate Athletic Conference championship, but it still managed to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Division II Northeast Region.
Queens, seeded fifth, will play Adelphi Thursday in the first round.
All three games against Post were one-run affairs, as pitching dominated the series. In the first game, a 1-0 Lady Knights win Saturday in Brookville, Stephanie Santoro scattered four hits while going the distance for the victory.
The offense was provided by Jessica Blake, who scored the game’s lone run in the top of the first aided by an error. Queens managed just five hits in the game, but it was enough.
In the second game, part of a doubleheader Sunday, C.W. Post starter Amanda Moore returned the favor, holding Queens to just five hits and no runs in a complete-game 1-0 win over Santoro. Santoro again allowed just five hits, but one fifth-inning run proved to be the difference.
In the series finale, Julianne Lovejoy out-dueled Erin Lynch and Victoria Forsythe for the 4-3 win. Post was up 4-0 on RBIs by Joanna Moccia, Krystle Scala and Toni Neenan before Queens added three in the sixth to pull within one. Lovejoy, however, shut the Lady Knights down the rest of the way for the win.
Queens started last week with a 12-11 win over the Lady Panthers in the NYCAC tournament despite a shaky performance from Santoro, who surrendered seven runs — six earned — on nine hits and two walks through 4.1. innings of work.
Reliever Victoria Forsythe did not fare any better, finishing up the fifth but giving up two more runs in the process, allowing Adelphi to take a 7-3 lead.
Queens, however, rallied for six runs in the bottom of the inning, two more in the eighth and one in the ninth to seal the win. Natalie D’Amico was 2-for-4 with three RBIs to lead Queens, while Lisa Tropea, Cheryl Cosenzo, Crystal Wilson, Fran Piazza and Santoro all had multi-hit games with an RBI apiece.
Queens enters the NCAA Tournament with an overall record of 28-15.
Notes: Both Cosenzo and Wilson were named to the NYCAC First Team, while head coach Brian DeMasters was named NYCAC Coach of the Year.
Reach Sports Editor Anthony Bosco by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 130.
