No. 9 Softball Captures Second Straight Regional Championship With 9-2 Victory Over New Haven
Box Score
All-Tournament Team
BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (May 11, 2008) - Senior pitcher Samantha Yodowitz (Suffern, N.Y.) fired a complete-game seven-hitter and Melissa Medina (Levittown, N.Y.) went 4-for-5 with four runs scored and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2008 NCAA Division II Softball Championship's Northeast Regional Sunday afternoon, as they led the top-seeded and 9th-ranked C.W. Post softball team to its school-record 48th win and second consecutive regional title with a 9-2 victory over eighth-seeded University of New Haven.
For C.W. Post (48-14), it was the team's second regional championship in a row, as the team also won last year's title. Head coach Jamie Apicella's team will now travel to Houston, Texas, for the May 14-17, NCAA Division II Softball College World Series. The Pioneers open the double-elimination tournament Wednesday against Emporia State, the North Central Region Champion.
Four players from the Pioneers were named to the all-tournament team, along with three from New Haven. For New Haven (28-21), pitcher Breanne Gleason (Bristol, Conn.), and infielders Nicole Downs (Seymour, Conn.), and Jessica Medina (Hopewell Junction,N.Y.) received kudos. Along with Yodowitz and Medina, senior infielders #Holly Eringis# (Tewksbury, Mass.) and Katie Younes (Newbury, Mass.) picked up all-tourney accolades.
The Pioneers, the visiting team in the contest, drew first blood in the top of the first inning, as #Christie Softy's (Floral Park, N.Y.) single to center was misplayed by the center fielder, driving home Medina, who had singled to lead off the game and moved to second on Kelsey Cooley's (Syracuse, N.Y.) sacrifice bunt.
Five hits and one error in the top of the fourth inning led to four more runs for C.W. Post, which took a 5-1 lead. Younes led off the inning with a double to right field, and advanced to third on Megan Correia's (Seekonk, Mass.) single to right field. Amanda Aiello (Charlton, Mass.) grounded the ball to short, and Downs threw Younes out at home, but Correia advanced to third and Aiello to second on the play. Medina's infield single followed by Cooley's misplayed grounded to third allowed both runs to score, and Softy made the error hurt, singling to left field and driving in a run. Melissa Hippo (Granite Bay, Calif.) followed with another single that diving New Haven second baseman Courtney Garland could not hold on to, plating another run.
New Haven cut the lead to 5-2 in the fifth, when Gleason drove a run home with a sacrifice fly to right field, but a three-run sixth inning for the Pioneers pushed the game out of reach for the Chargers, as Medina singled and scored on Cooley's sacrifice bunt, helped by two Charger errors that enabled Cooley to circle the bases for another run. Softy doubled and scored on Eringis' single through the left side.
Cooley singled home the final Pioneers run of the day in the sixth inning, when her base-knock to right field drove in Medina, who had notched her fourth single earlier in the inning.