Top-seeded Baruch College emerged from the losers’ bracket to record back-to-back victories over the College of Staten Island and earn the school’s first CUNY Conference softball championship Saturday at CSI.
The 8-6 and 8-3 wins were a sharp contrast to how the marathon afternoon began when it was the Dolphins who were in the catbird seat for the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III regionals.
The day started well for the defending champion Dolphins in the continuation of Friday’s scoreless game against Baruch. CSI scored four runs in the top of the 10 inning to take a 4-1 victory in the winners’ bracket final.
CSI then took a few hours off while the Bearcats dispatched with John Jay in a mercy-rule win, meaing the Dolphins needed just one victory over Baruch to repeat as champions in the double-elimination format.
It took CSI 10 innings to finally get on the scoreboard against Baruch starter Nicole Flint in the first meeting, but the Dolphins jumped on the right-hander for a solo run in the first frame, then took a 3-0 lead in the second when Amanda D’Amato ripped a two-run double to left.
However, Baruch won the regular-season title and led the league in hitting, and after being blanked for nine innings in the first encounter by CSI pitcher Danielle Ponsiglione, finally got to the right-hander in the bottom of the second.
The Bearcats rapped out five hits in the inning, including home runs by Flint and Melissa Pena, scored five times, and took a 5-3 advantage.
"I think everyone kind of expected the hitting to pick up the second time around," said Baruch designated hitter and pitcher Andrea Tepfer, who got the win vs. John Jay. "You get to see the same pitcher all day for five, six, seven at-bats, and something is bound to happen. The pitchers get a little tired, and as a hitter, you’ve seen everything they throw."
The Dolphins touched Flint for three more runs in the fifth on RBI from Kristi Dillon, Jillain Graniero and Ponsiglione to knot the score at six apiece, but the Bearcats rallied for two in the sixth to force a deciding game.
Tepfer got the ball for the Bearcats, and the former Susan Wagner HS star was up to the task.
The right-hander scattered six hits in her five-inning stint and her teammates rapped out 10 hits to put away the title.
"It feels good to win this championship, especially here on the Island," Tepfer explained.
"They earned it," said CSI coach Stella Porto. "They’ve done a terrific job building up the program. I know we’ll be right back in it next year because we are still very young (lose just two players to graduation) and the girls want to get back on top."
