GLASSBORO, N.J. (5/3/15) – In their third-straight NJAC Championship Sunday appearance, the Kean University softball team dropped a tense 5-4 decision to Ramapo College that forced the Cougars' exit from the Tournament. Senior Courtney Yard pitched all seven innings, allowed just two earned runs and hit a two-run homerun for the Cougars.
Neither side had a hit in the first two innings. Kean did have a scoring threat in the first, when Yard worked a 10-pitch walk and Emily Bissonnette was hit by a pitch. Alexis D'Aloisio then pulled a pitch down the leftfield line that would have gone for extra bases, but it was ruled just foul.
Ramapo broke through in the top of the third. A Cougar error and basehits by Nicole Hernandez and Kim LaPenta brought around two unearned runs for the Roadrunners.
Tonianne DeMatteo began the Kean third with a double to the leftfield wall, but two good defensive plays by the Ramapo infield stranded her at third when the inning ended.
D'Aloisio began the Kean fourth with a single through the left side of the infield, but despite a good sac bunt by Katie Garbarino the Cougars were unable to score her.
The Roadrunners tacked on two runs in the fifth. Mikayla Melendez and Malanie Walling had two-out RBI extra-basehits aided by sun glare and increased the margin to 4-0.
In the fifth inning, MacKenzie Valeriani got Kean's third-straight leadoff hit when she doubled over the leftfielder's head. With one out, Yard jacked a majestic homerun straight at the leftfield flagpole to instantaneously cut the Ramapo lead in half.
Emily Sabo (pictured left) and Bissonnette also had hits in the inning, but a nice running catch down the rightfield line by Danielle Saporito kept the score at 4-2 heading into the sixth.
Ramapo scored another unearned run in the top of the sixth. Saporito had a two-out RBI basehit that increased the Roadrunner cushion to three.
Roadrunner pitcher Katrina Buczkowski went the first five-and-two-thirds innings and struck out five. But Kean scored two last runs off of her in the sixth: Cayleen Rizo doubled to start the sixth inning and Yard walked. With two outs, Rizo scurried home on a passed ball to make the score 5-3. Then Sabo stroked a big RBI single to centerfield to trim the lead all the way down to one going into the seventh.
Buczkowski returned to the circle for the bottom of the seventh. The freshman hurler was helped by centerfielder Jaclyn Lima, who made a fantastic diving catch in the right-centerfield gap to rob Garbarino of a leadoff extra-basehit. With two outs, Rizo sent the crowd to its feet with a deep, potential game-tying drive to leftfield. But Ramapo's Grace Brennan made a circus catch on the warning track to end the game and send Ramapo to the NJAC Championship Game.
Yard finished with five strikeouts and threw every pitch of the Tournament for the Cougars. Sabo was the only Kean player to have a multiple-hit day on Sunday.
The Cougars are now 25-11-1 overall and No. 1 in the latest NCAA East Region rankings. The team will await word of a possible NCAA Championship bid on Monday at 10 a.m. during the NCAA Selection Show.
