GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Fairfield University softball team split a pair of games at the Spiro Classic hosted by UNC-Greensboro, edging Columbia University by a 2-1 score before falling to the host school by an 11-0 count.
The Stags used a late inning rally to pick up the victory in their first game on Saturday, scoring a pair of runs in the fifth inning. Still, Fairfield earned ample opportunities throughout the game, picking at least one hit in all but the second inning when Fairfield went down in order.
The team had a runner in scoring position in all five of those innings in which it had a hit, including a bases-loaded chance in the first. Columbia pitcher Mads Lawson was able to work out of those jams and keep Fairfield scoreless until the fifth inning.
Fairfield pitcher
Alyssa Weinberg was just as effective, yielding just one run which came off a bases-loaded walk with two outs. She ended her seven-inning effort with four strikeouts and scattered five hits to pick up her second win of the season.
In the fifth,
Sarah Bielski started the rally with a one-out hit to right field before moving to third base on
Darby Weller's double to the left-center field gap.
Anna Paravati was next in the batter's box and delivered a two-run single that put the Stags in front for good.
Paravati carried that success into the second game of day, accounting for a pair of hits in the Stags' 11-0 setback to host UNC-Greensboro. The senior stroked her singles in the first and third innings in addition to stealing a base.
Danica Silvestri accounted for the team's third hit of the game, a pinch hit single in the fifth inning.
Delaney Moquin made her first career start against UNC-Greensboro, pitching the first two innings before yielding
Grace Conrad who pitched the next 1.1 innings.
Mia Simons closed out the game by picking up the final out.
Fairfield was scheduled to play Columbia for the final game of the Spiro Classic but the game has been canceled due inclement weather in the area. The Stags will have a week off before returning to the diamond for the Terrapin Invitational hosted by the University of Maryland on February 27 to March 1.
