Chargers softball storms back with game two victory

The Chargers softball team welcomed the Hawks of Saint Anselms to North Campus for a non-conference doubleheader. A week after sweeping Stonehill in their doubleheader, the team looked to repeat the results of the previous weekend series by sending junior pitcher Mia Iodice for game one to face Hawk’s ace pitcher Morgan Perry.

Perry stole the show striking out 16 of the Chargers en route to a complete-game no-hitter. The 16 strikeouts were one shy of Saint Anselm’s single-game record for strikeouts in a game. Junior Charger Ava Fitzmaurice spoiled Perry’s bid for a perfect game when Fitzmaurice popped up to the infield in the fourth inning. Perry called off right infielders to make the play but was unable to squeeze the ball, dropping it and being scored as an error on the pitcher, ending the perfect game bid.

The Chargers were quiet the rest of the game while Perry made her way through their line-up going one-two-three each inning. The Hawks took game one winning 2-0 with a no-hitter against the Chargers.

With a chip on their shoulders, the Chargers woke up the bats in the second game and came out swinging in the game.

Freshman Ashley Veisz, for the second week, found herself driving in the first runs for the Chargers in the bottom of the first and the Chargers did not look back. They drove off Hawk’s starting pitcher Courtney Fisher after only little over 1 inning after tagging three runs to her stat line.

These three runs proved to be all that Ava Fitzmaurice needed as she would go on to throw a complete game shutout by hitting her spots and attacking the corners of the Hawk’s batters, striking out six and giving up only five hits.

After struggling in the first game, the Chargers regrouped in between games and a completely different team showed up for the start of the second game. There were no mental mistakes and the fielding was clean, unlike in-game one. The early bats provided everything for the team and they quieted down as the game went on but it did not matter for Fitzmaurice who improved to 2-0 on the season while the team moved to 3-1.

The Chargers return to the diamond on March 25 when they host Malloy in a weekday doubleheader with first pitch at 2 p.m. The game will be available on the Charger Sports Network on the Chargers Athletics Website.