The Oswego State softball team returned home from their trip to Myrtle Beach to face the St. Lawrence University Saints on March 30 in a doubleheader. It is of note that although the season is ten games in, this is the first home game for the Lakers. 

The top of the first inning of the first game was excellence from pitcher Fiona Higgins. The Saints stood no chance as Higgins struck out three batters and the Lakers headed to bat. The bottom of the first kicked off with strikeouts from Grace DiPalma and Kira Wright before Higgins hit a single to the right. She advanced to second before Ellie Mahoney struck out.

Higgins played just as well as she did in the first, as she struck out two batters and another one got out on a pop up. Lily Fanea began the bottom of the second by advancing on an error, then advancing to second on another error. Fanea ended up stealing third but nobody could bring her home.

Higgins continued her impressive game by striking out the first batter and after, the other two grounded out. The bats for the Lakers exploded in the bottom of the third, beginning with a Mackenzie Carlson single. Carlson stole second before DiPalma brought her to third on a single. Wright hit another single for the Lakers, putting DiPalma in scoring position. Higgins blasted a hit dead-center towards the pitcher, bringing in DiPalma and Carlson to give the Lakers a 2-0 lead. Mahoney hit a sacrifice fly ball after this, bringing in Wright for a 3-0 lead. Fanea hit an RBI single that brought Higgins home; she stole second, then advanced twice on wild pitches to end the inning at a 5-0 Lakers lead.

Higgins still did not allow a hit in the fourth inning, as each batter popped up or grounded out as the game headed to the bottom. The Lakers faced a quick two outs from their batters, but it did not stop them from scoring. Wright reached first on an error, advanced to second from a Higgins single, then ran all the way home on a Mahoney single. Higgins got out at home base to end the inning.

The Saints finally got their first hit of the game but it did not amount to any runs as the Lakers headed to the bottom of the fifth up 6-0. The Lakers were quickly taken care of, as all three batters hit pop up or grounded outs to end the inning.

Wild pitches allowed two batters to be on base early, but Higgins continued her great game, not allowing a hit. Lillian Haggerty kicked off the bottom of the sixth with a single to left field and subsequently stole second. Carlson then hit a sacrifice fly ball that brought Haggerty to third. DiPalma rocketed the ball for an RBI single that brought the score to 7-0. Two outs followed and the game headed to the seventh. 

Higgins surrendered a run in the seventh inning, but still pitched a great game. Higgins finished the day with nine Ks, only allowing two hits and a walk in the 7-0 win over the Saints.

The Saints kicked off the second game of the doubleheader with a single followed by a double; the Lakers immediately were on their heels. Fortunately for Oswego, the Saints followed this with fly outs and the game was still 0-0. The Lakers had worse luck than the Saints, as Higgins was the only batter to find the ball and the game was 0-0 heading to the second.

The Saints again kicked off the inning with a double and a single, but this time the single brought in a batter to bring it to 1-0. The Lakers finally got an out, but it was during an RBI double, so the Lakers only had one out, down 3-0. Chelsea Sellars stepped in for Higgins following this. Sellars stepped in and allowed three singles immediately,as well as three RBIs for a 6-0 score. After this, a Saint stole home to bring it to 7-0.

The Lakers never truly recovered from the seven runs scored in the second inning, but they did put up three runs in the fifth off the back of a blast from Jenna Mills. The Lakers were not able to put up much offense besides the fifth inning, as they eventually lost to the Saints 9-4.

The Lakers move on to play two doubleheaders: the first against SUNY New Paltz on April 6 and the second one against SUNY Oneonta on April 7.

Photo by: Oswego Athletics