Stefanie Gozdziewski felt something wasn’t right with her team on defense from the start. The Fieldston coach said her players weren’t talking enough, was tentative and looked unsure of themselves. Still, they held a one-run lead over Horace Mann heading into the fifth, where all Gozdziewski saw manifested itself.
“It definitely snowballed on us,” she said.
Ali Hellman hit a groundball to third, but Sarah Fernandez threw high trying to catch Lauren DelPrete off second base. Starting pitcher Emily Kling followed that with an errant throw home that allowed a run to score. She then gave up a three-run triple to right field to Sophie Miller that Carolena Marcos mistakenly charged too quickly. When the inning ended Horace Mann scored five times and cruised to a 7-3 win in Ivy League softball Friday at Fieldston.
“Errors are contagious,” Eagles shortstop Kate Miller said. “After one person makes an error it is hard for us to pull ourselves together. It’s hard when that happens because there feels like there is so much you could have done to prevent it.”
The sophomore, who is one of the city’s top players, did all should could at the plate. She was 2-for-2 with two RBIs and run scored and two walks for Fieldston (6-2). She singled home the Eagles’ first run in the opening inning, drove a ball down the leftfield line in the third for an RBI and then came home on a bases-loaded walk to give the Eagles a 3-2 lead.
“She is a run producer,” Gozdziewski said.
The rest of the Fieldston order struggled against Horace Mann (6-2) and starter Mia Farinelli, who didn’t pitch against the Eagles in their win in the team’s first meeting. The freshman scattered six hits, just one over the final four innings and struck out 10. Kling allowed seven hits over six innings. Lee Bernstein, who pitched in the first meeting, came on in relief in the seventh.
The Eagles that would bring the tying run to the plate with two outs in the seventh inning. Ariel Saul singled, Sophie Miller walked and Fernandez was hit by a pitch. Farinelli though got Marisa Rackson to ground out to shortstop to end the game and move the Lions into a tie with Fieldston for second place.
“I think it says good things,” Kate Miller said.“That we are not going to go down without a fight.”