Albertus Softball Falls to Suffern, 9-3

The Suffern Mounties visited the Albertus Magnus softball team on Monday and walked away with a 9-3 victory.

The Falcons had difficulties offensively and defensively which led to Suffern's decisive win.  On defense, Albertus let up six unearned runs and had four errors.  This ultimately lost the game for them, as the Mounties won the game by six runs.  Offensively, the Falcons were unable to make up for their difficulties on defense.  Though they did score three runs, their performance on Monday did not live up to what they are capable of.

The first, second, and third innings were all the Mounties.  They let up no runs, either fielding or striking out the Falcons for three 1, 2, 3 innings.  To make matters worse for Albertus, they let up five runs to the Mounties.  This brought them into the fourth down 5-0.

Looking for the come from behind win, the Falcons buckled down defensively.  Senior pitcher, #11 Nicole Paciello started off the inning strong by striking out the first batter looking.  She let up a single to the next hitter, and then one to the third, however the ball was fielded well and they made the play at first.  She barely had time to face the next hitter before the runner on second attempted to steal third and was tagged out just in time to close the top of the inning.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Falcons ran into a stroke of luck.  The pitcher for the Mounties started the inning strong and got the first two batters out.  However, she then proceeded to walk the next three to load the bases and walked in the first run for the Falcons.  It was then Brianna Gallione's turn at bat and she capitalized on  the situation with a single to bring home their second run of the game.  Unfortunately, Tara Condon was unable to continue the run and was thrown out at first.

Looking for the comeback, the Falcons were able to hold the Mounties scoreless in the fifth.  Though each batter got a hit, Albertus fielded these excellently to bring them to the bottom of the inning.  Melissa Place hit a double to start it off and then stole third later in the inning.  Maddie List hit a shot to bring her home, however that was the final run scored of the inning.

The Mounties fought back to cement their lead by scoring two runs each in the sixth and seventh while keeping the Falcons scoreless.  This brought the game to a close with the score at 9-3.

Despite the difficulties that they had today, the Falcons continue to work hard and rebuild after losing many of their key players last year.  The added experience from each game brings them one step further in accomplishing this goal.  They were expecting a tough game, and that's what they got, bringing their season to 6-8.