Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

Utica, NY -- The Elmira College softball team showed no signs of fatigue despite playing their third consecutive doubleheader and fifth in the last week as the Soaring Eagles earned a much-needed split with Empire 8 opponent Utica College. EC fell in game one, 7-4, before coming back to win game two 7-3.
 
The Purple and Gold hit a total of three home runs this afternoon, one each from Jacquelyn Heggie '16, Katie Day '16, and Katie Dore '15, who's grand slam in game two helped give EC a substantial lead. For Day, her solo shot in the first inning of game two was her first career home run. Ashley Palmer '16 went a combined 3-7 and scored one run in the split while Heggie went 2-4 with two walks and three runs scored in the two games.
 
Game One -- Utica 7, Elmira 4
 
After Dore and Alex Puglisi '14 each got out to lead off the top of the first inning, the Soaring Eagles pieced together a two-out rally to push across the game's first run. Emily Carlin '17 started the rally by getting hit by a pitch, putting her on first base. Carlin was advanced to second by a Palmer single to center field and then Mikayla Bean '14 loaded the bases with a single of her own to left field. Megan Anderson '15, the next batter, hit Elmira's third single in a row, this time to right field, scoring Carlin to put EC up 1-0. Utica would halt any further damage by getting Gill Gravel '15 out to end the inning.
 
Utica would answer right back with one of two three-run innings in the bottom of the first to take a 3-1 lead. The Pioneers would get their first run in the form of a solo home run and then a two-out single would plate two additional players to make it a 3-1 game. EC would cut into the deficit in the next inning as Heggie led off the top of the second with a home run, making it 3-2. It remained 3-2 until the bottom of the third inning when Utica would hit their second home run of the afternoon off of Puglisi, this time a three-run blast to left field. The Pioneers followed the home run by putting runners on second and third with no outs, but a heads-up play by the Soaring Eagle defense during the next at bat saw both runners get out on the same sequence. Puglisi then ended the inning with her third strikeout of the day.
 
EC put together a rally in the top of the fifth inning, plating two runs to cut their deficit to 6-4. Carlin singled to left field, putting her on first base with one out. Palmer followed with a single to advance Carlin to second and then Bean singled to center to score Carlin and put runners on first and third. Bean then stole second to give Elmira two runners in scoring position. Anderson hit a hard line drive that was caught for the second out, but an error on the attempt to double-up Bean allowed Palmer to score and make it a two-run game. Gravel nearly closed the gap even further with a single to right field in the next at-bat, but Bean would be thrown out trying to score from second base.
 
Utica would add an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth, but that was enough as the Purple and Gold had just two base-runners the rest of the game.
 
Game Two -- Elmira 7, Utica 3
 
It was a complete reversal in game two as EC's power bats put on a show in the second inning. Both pitchers made quick work in the first inning, going three-up, three-down. But the Soaring Eagles would put five runs on the board in the top of the second inning to take a commanding lead.
 
Day, who seemingly broke out of her slump against Penn Tech the previous day, blasted a solo shot to left field to put EC on top 1-0. Anderson followed with a single, but game two's starting pitcher, Emilie Rogers '14, would fly out to left field for the second out of the inning. Heggie walked to advance Anderson to second and then Krystal Bupp '14 singled to right field to load the bases, bringing Dore to the plate. With one swing of the bat, Dore broke open the game as she sent a towering drive out of the park to left center field for her first home run since the 2012 season.
 
Rogers continued to roll through the Utica lineup, as she compiled five strikeouts through the first eight batters she faced, but Rogers ran into some trouble with two outs in the bottom of the third. After recording her fourth and fifth strikeouts of the game, Rogers gave up back-to-back singles to put runners on first and second. The very next batter hit a double, plating both runners to make it a 5-2 game. Rogers would end the threat by getting the next batter to pop out.
 
Both offenses would go quiet until the seventh inning. EC would get an RBI groundout from Dore for one insurance run and then Heggie would score from third on a passed ball to push Elmira's lead to 7-2. That would be plenty for Rogers, who despite giving up a run in the bottom of the seventh inning, would move to 4-1 on the season after the Soaring Eagles' 7-3 victory.
 
EC will get one day off before heading back out onto the field for yet another doubleheader. The Soaring Eagles will host non-conference opponent, St. Lawrence University, on Monday, April 21st with the first game scheduled to start at 3:00 p.m.