Mercy College tried to catch CHC's Giovanna Lorine in a rundown between first and second base, but the Griffin freshman (right) avoided a tag and made it back to first safely, sliding under the glove of Mercy first baseman Kaylee Stevens. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

In a non-league softball doubleheader at Chestnut Hill College last Thursday afternoon, Mercy ruled by "mercy rule." Visiting Mercy College ended both games early by building up leads of more than eight runs, closing out the opener in six innings with a 12-3 score, and wrapping up the second contest in five frames at 20-3.

The Mavericks outhit CHC 44-5 for the afternoon as a whole, taking an 8-3 record back home to Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. In the first game, Mavericks starter McKaily Cusumano (1K, 2BB) was removed from the circle with two outs in the third inning as Chestnut Hill enjoyed a 3-1 lead, and Kendall Meeks (3K, 1BB) earned the win with the help of an eight-run outburst by her offense at the top of the fourth.

Meeks continued on to start the second game and throw for five outs (1K, 4BB) before eventual winner Alexis Carmichael (1K, 1BB) came in to throw for one-and-one third innings. Jackie Kielty then came in to blank the Griffins in the fourth and fifth.

Since this was a non-league twin bill, CHC remained 1-3 within the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference while slipping to 3-15 overall. Mercy's rally in the middle of the fourth inning of game one forced CHC starter Nicole Eberhard (1K, 0BB) to the dugout with two outs in that stanza. The ball was handed to senior Briannen Holloway (3K, 0W) for one-and-two-thirds innings, then freshman Samantha Vogel (0K, 0BB) came in to get the last two outs.

In two separate stints in the circle in game two, Griffins sophomore starter Hunter Irvin (2K, 1BB) threw for a total of two-and-two-thirds innings. Vogel (0K, 0BB) appeared for a four-out stretch, and Holloway (0K, 0BB) pitched for one inning.

The Chestnut Hill hurlers didn't have control problems; they simply got clobbered by the Mavericks' bats. Once the visitors got rolling in the fourth inning of the opening game, they would score 31 runs in seven consecutive innings.

At the start of the day's competition, Mercy put up the first run of the afternoon at the top of the first, but the Griffins leveled the scoreboard at 1-1 in the bottom half. With one out sophomore Ariel Magee was hit by a pitch and then reached second on a ground-out by senior Corie Apodaca. Magee scored on a base hit by sophomore Brielle Riotte.

Chestnut Hill's only lead in the doubleheader came in the home half of the third inning of the first game, and this time the Griffins staged a two-out rally. Magee waited out a walk and scored for the second time in the game on Apodaca's double out to the pasture between center and right field.

After a walk to Riotte, sophomore Kaya Swanek's base hit loaded the bases, forcing a pitching change for the Mavericks. Before Meeks settled in for Mercy, she gave up a walk with the bags full to push home another CHC run and make it 3-1.

Mercy head coach Mike Fazio was overheard expressing his concern about the Mavericks' slow starts this season. This certainly was one of those, but the visitors snapped out of their early daze when they came to the plate at the top of the fourth. Meeks helped her cause by belting two of the eight hits her team racked up during this inning, whacking a two-run homer her second time up. A pair of CHC errors contributed to the Mavericks' eight-run rampage.

After the score remained 9-3 throughout the fifth inning, the visitors added three runs in the top of the sixth to spread the score to mercy-rule numbers. Mercy then allowed only four Griffins up to bat in their last appearance at the plate in the opening game.

The Mavericks jumped all over the Griffins right at the start of the second bout, pounding 10 hits in their first batting turn to take an 8-0 lead. Four more points went up on the visitors' side of the board at the top of the second, but at least Chestnut Hill got three back in the bottom half.

Leading off, Riotte got hit by a pitch and freshman Cailey Stevenson came in for her as a pinch runner. On a ball put in play by freshman Giovanna Lorine, Mercy muffed a force-out at second base and then failed to nab Lorine in a rundown attempt back between first and second as Stevenson scampered all the way home for CHC's first run.

Junior Jessica Pulis waited out 3-2 pitch to earn a walk and push Lorine to second, but after the next batter struck out, the Mavericks picked up a second out by forcing out Lorine at third when senior Jenna "From the Block" Long hit the ball to the pitcher.

Sophomore Alex Sauer drew a walk to load the bases and then, despite a pitching change between the next two batters, the visitors walked both sophomore Marissa Maioran and freshman Kailey Reposa of Chestnut Hill, pushing home two more runs to make it 12-3. A fly ball ended the inning, and that would be all the scoring the Griffins could manage.

Already past the mercy rule threshold despite CHC's modest rally, the New York ball club piled on seven runs in the third and posted the final run of the day in the fourth. In the last three innings the Griffins got a total of 10 batters to the plate; Pulis drubbed a double to left field in the third.