NEW HAVEN, Connecticut The American International College softball team traveled to New Haven to face Southern Connecticut State University in a doubleheader on Sunday, April 2. The teams split the games, with AIC winning the first game 3-2 and losing the second 3-0.
In the first game, AIC staged an end-of-game rally to grab a walk-off victory. They went down 1-0 in the first inning on an RBI from Southern's third baseman Sara Buscetto. Southern went up 2-0 in the sixth as Buscetto scored on a sac fly from Bryanna Mcintosh.
Things looked grim as AIC only had two innings left, but it managed to tie the game in the sixth. Catcher Jamie Mainez scored the first run as Alexa DiLeo doubled and the lead was cut in half. AIC tied it shortly after thanks to a single from Jess Lingenberg, which scored Kayla Riley.
With the game tied, AIC was full of confidence and they carried that into the seventh inning. AIC got the bases loaded for Mainez, and she came up with the walk-off single, scoring center fielder Keymell Cartwright and capping off the Yellow Jackets comeback.
Sarah Beliveau picked up the win, striking out five and walking zero. Delany Turner picked up the loss for Southern Connecticut. Beliveau is now 2-2 on the season and Turner is 0-4.
In the second game, AIC had Alyssa Camargo in the circle and Southern trotted out Victoria Ceballos. Camargo looked ready to roll through Southern's lineup time and time again, similar to how she did with Bridgeport in her last outing, but there was one inning where Southern got to her: the fourth.
With the bases loaded, shortstop Julia Lener singled, scoring Giuliana D'Arcangelo. Then Lauren Yaffa stepped up to the plate and Camargo just couldn't find the strike-zone consistently and walked in a run. An error by shortstop Yami Lopez-Perez on a grounder hit by left fielder Arianna Medeiros allowed Arianne Tedeschi to score, and that was all Southern needed on the day.
Ceballos was in a groove the whole game and struck out five and only walked one. That got her the win, and Camargo picked up the loss, as she struck out six and walked one.
AIC is now 4-11 (1-3) and will travel to Albany, New York, to face Saint Rose on Tuesday, April 4.