Behind 13 innings of brilliant pitching of Carissa Della Vecchia, St. Thomas Aquinas College scored 8-0 and 5-2 wins over host Molloy College today to win the East Coast Conference best-of-three semifinal softball series and advance to the conference championship round for the first time in program history.
Third-seeded STAC (24-11) will now meet top-seeded University of Bridgeport (20-7) in the best-of-three ECC championship series that begins on Friday. Bridgeport advanced past Mercy College today in the other semifinal matchup.
It was truly a memorable day for the STAC program. Molloy, ranked third in the East Region with a 28-14 record, entered the game riding a 13-game win streak that included five wins over the Lady Spartans after Friday’s 4-1 victory in the series opener. But behind Della Vecchia’s terrific pitching, STAC turned the tables in dramatic fashion. Della Vecchia, a junior lefty, twirled a six-hit shutout in Saturday’s first game and then fired an impressive seven innings in the clincher.
“Our team showed great resiliency today,” said STAC Head Coach Kristen Sullivan. “Molloy was the hottest team in our conference and we had to travel out to Long Island on back-to-back days to face them on their field. Carissa showed great stamina to pitch both games and was in total command in both games. Everything clicked today on offense and defense. It was a very exciting day.”
In the first game, Amanda Castro’s run-producing single gave STAC a 1-0 lead in the first inning. In a surprise turn of events, Molloy’s starting pitcher Courtney Greene left the game after one inning due to an apparent injury. Greene had a 4-0 record against STAC coming into the game. The Spartans pounced on Greene’s replacement Amanda King for nine hits and seven runs to win by the mercy rule after six innings. Castro finished with three hits and three RBI while teammates Amanda Schweitzer (two hits, three RBI) and Della Vecchia (three runs) also excelled with the bats. Shortstop Nikki MacDonald sparkled at shortstop.
Greene came back to start the second game and was locked in a pitching duel with Della Vecchia before STAC broke through with three runs in a pivotal fourth inning rally. Sarah Williams doubled in the first run and freshmen Tara Hagan followed immediately with an RBI single to centerfield. Molloy closed the margin to 3-1 but STAC posted key insurance runs in the sixth and seventh innings. MacDonald stole home on a double steal in the sixth inning and Hagan singled in another run in the seventh.
Hagan finished with two hits and two RBI with Della Vecchia, Williams, Missy Sadler and Jailene Santiago also contributing two hits each. Kim Astrologo (second base) and Sadler (centerfield) played strong defense.