The New York University softball team defeated Farleigh Dickinson University-Florham 7-5 on Sunday, May 15, to win the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Metro Championship. The win was NYU's third in two days at Stockton University in Galloway, NJ, where the tournament was hosted.
The Violets (26-15), playing in their first-ever postseason tournament, erased a 5-2 defecit with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and three more in the bottom of the sixth.
"We never got down, never felt we were out of the game," said Head Coach
Now-Allah James. "We didn't change anything. We just kept playing our game."
After both teams went down in order in the first inning, the Violets scored the game's first run in the bottom of the second. With the bases loaded and one out,
Jacqueline Finn roped an RBI-single to right field to score
Ashley Mains, who reached on a single of her own to lead off the inning.
The Violets' lead was short-lived, however, as FDU Florham's Rebecca DeCarlo hit a home run to tie the game in the top of the third inning.
Diana King answered with a home run in the bottom half of the inning to put NYU back on top, 2-1.
FDU-Florham (21-17) scored four runs off starter
Karissa Zubulake to take a 5-2 lead in the top of the fiifth before NYU began its late-inning comeback.
NYU plated two in the fifth on
Claire Stefanelli's two-out single.
Allyson Schmus' leadoff home run tied the game in the bottom of the sixth and Mains' two-out single provided the winning margin..
King, who came on in relief of Zubulake with one out in the fifth innng, earned the victory,
"It was a total team effort all weekend," James explained. "The players really wanted it."
HIGHLIGHTS:
- NYU turned a pair of double plays.
- Four Violets had multi-hit games including
Kahala Bonsignore who recorded three hits.
- King, who recorded her team-high ninth win of the season, was selected the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. She and Zubulake combined to strike out five Devils' hitters.
"Our players put in a lot of work all year long," James said. "They were really dedicated and were always trying to get better. I couldn't be prouder of everything they accomplished."
The Violets conluded their successful 2016 campaign with a nine-game winning streak and 26 victories, more than doubling their win total from their inaugural season in 2015.
