Box Score GALLERY: 2014 Softball

BRONXVILLE, N.Y.—In a wet, 8-inning shootout, Sarah Lawrence College ended its season with a 17-16 extra-inning loss to Yeshiva University in the semifinal round of the 2014 Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Softball Championship on Sunday at Mary LeVine Field.

After a scoreless first inning, Sarah Lawrence (2-23) was first on the scoreboard with a five-run, three-hit second inning. Sophomore Rebecca Kuntz (Northridge, Calif./Chaminade College Preparatory) led off with a single before Sarah Weldon (New York, N.Y./Millennium) drew a walk. Capitalizing on a Maccabee error, Tori Himes (Boulder, Colo./New Vista) drew an RBI-walk to put the first run on the board. With bases loaded, Gryphon Erin Chafatelli (Nashville, Tenn./McGavock) plated two runners with a single to center field, and Mackenzie Gassett (Camden, Maine/Camden Hills Regional) immediately followed with a 2-run double to left field.

Yeshiva (6-6) responded with six runs to take a narrow 6-5 lead after two innings.

In the third, Ariana Muoio (Cross River, N.Y./Convent of the Sacred Heart) led off with a single, while Weldon got her first hit of the game, and rookie Addie Rosenberg (New York, N.Y./Fusion Academy) reached first base on balls. Hayley Adams (Dover, N.H./Berwick Academy) came through with an equaling RBI single to score Muoio and make it a 6-6 game.

The Maccabees regained the advantage with a run in the bottom of the third inning, but the Gryphons once again leveled the score. Sophomore Lauren Gray (Sea Cliff, N.Y./Waldorf School of Garden City) reached on a YU error, and Muoio batted her home to make the score 7-7.

The bottom of the fourth saw YU take a 9-7 lead, and both teams' bats were kept quiet in the fifth inning.

Trailing by two, SLC tied the game yet again. The sixth inning featured a lead-off hit by Kuntz, while Muoio took a beanball for a free pass. Both Gryphons scored on a two-RBI single up the middle by Himes.

Yeshiva scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 12-9 lead and put the pressure on the Gryphons to score in the seventh inning, lest they face elimination.

Early in the seventh, an errant Maccabee throw left Gray on first base instead of dealing SLC its second out. Kuntz and Muoio followed with back-to-back hits, narrowing the deficit to 12-10. YU then cut the Gryphons down to their final life, but a ball to the ankle of Rosenberg loaded the bags.

Batting out of the No. 9 spot, Adams again rose to the occasion, driving in two runs to tie the ballgame at 12-12. Her two-hit, four RBI day marked the first multi-hit game of her career.

While the Gryphons failed to plate another runner in the seventh, SLC succeeded in keeping Yeshiva scoreless in the frame, sending the game into an extra inning.

As driving rain began to fall on Mary LeVine Field, the Gryphons capitalized on Yeshiva miscues. Gassett, Gray, Kuntz and Muoio successfully circumnavigated the field, despite no SLC hits and just two YU errors.

The Green and White led 16-12 heading to the bottom of the inning, but Yeshiva's offense proved superior. Six hits and five runs later, Yeshiva walked off the field with a ticket to the afternoon's championship game. The Maccabees were dismissed by St. Joseph's College Brooklyn, 14-1, in the title contest.

In addition to Adams' red-letter day, Kuntz finished 3-for-5 with three runs, and Chafatelli went 3-for-6 with two RBIs. Muoio crossed the plate a game-high five times, and Rosenberg notched her first RBI on her eighth-inning sacrifice fly.

From the circle, Kuntz tossed a career-high 7.1 innings, striking out three batters while yielding just five earned runs.

Following the game, Kuntz and Gassett were named to the All-HVIAC team, while Head Coach Chelsea Sheehan was honored as HVIAC Co-Coach of the Year.