Softball soaks Staten Island

CLERMONT, Fla. – The Falcons picked up their first victory of the young season in the spring-break opener. CUW only needed five innings to sink Staten Island, 12-2. The Blue and White improve to 1-2 with the victory and the Dolphins sink to 0-6.

"Today's win was symbolic of how our team needs to play to win," said head coach Steve Crook. "We had a solid pitching effort, with a very good defensive performance. I liked our performance at the plate and felt we had a good showing from our second group."

Freshman Krystal Cortes (Aurora, Ill.) opened the scoring in the first inning with a single to left field to score junior Molly O'Connell (New London, Wis.).

Junior Samantha Schloegl (Genoa City, Wis.) nearly had an inside the park homerun in the second inning, where she scored Molly O'Connell and freshman Gina Followell (Romeoville, Ill.).

The Falcons broke open the floodgates with nine runs.

Senior Sara Rosenow (Kimberly, Wis.) started the scoring carousel with a single up the middle of the infield to score sophomore Jenna Pozezinski (Lake Villa, Ill.) and senior Maddie Zazas (Mundelein, Ill.).

Gina Followell then singled to right field to score senior Becky Bonnin (Kenosha, Wis.) and Sara Rosenow.

Molly O'Connell then smashed a double to center field that sent Baileigh Johnson across home plate.

Jenna Pozezinski then sent the ball to left field on a double that put Samantha Schloegl and Molly O'Connell in the scorebook as runs.

Maddie Zazas and sophomore Heather Renard (Wrightstown, Wis.) scored on wild pitches.

The nine runs are the most in an inning since the Falcons dropped 10 runs in the fourth inning at Rockford on April 23, 2017.

Gina Followell recorded her first victory at CUW with six strikeouts and didn't allow a walk.

Senior Samanatha Schumacher (Freedom, Wis.) kept the Dolphins glued to the bases and didn't allow a stolen base.

The Falcons finished with 13 hits, Molly O'Connell, Jenna Pozezinski, Krystal Cortes and Gina Followell all had two hits.

Freshman Kelsey Powers (Westfield, Ind.) and Gina Followell recorded their first hits at CUW.

The second game of the day scheduled against Dubuque was cancelled.

The Blue and White defense did not commit an error on Saturday.

The Falcons will play Macalaster and Loras on Sunday.