LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. – A late two-run home run from senior
Samantha Hare lifted Niagara over Siena, 9-8, Wednesday afternoon in MAAC softball action. The Purple Eagles improve to 22-17 overall and 13-5 in MAAC play with their seventh-straight win.
How it Happened
Niagara scored the opening run of the game in the top of the first when
Shayna Myshrall doubled home
Lindsay Mayo. The Purple Eagles remained in front until the bottom of the third when
Maddie Hickingbottom surrendered two runs to the Saints on a one-out single.
The Purple and White responded in the top of the fourth when
Hailey Cenname hit a three-run home run to left, giving NU a 4-2 lead. Niagara would add three more in the fifth as Myshrall drove in a pair on a double down the right field line and
Sophia Marrero singled up the middle, making it a five-run game, 7-2.
Siena pushed across five runs on six hits and two Niagara errors in the bottom of the fifth, tying the game at 7-7.
In the top of the sixth, Hare would come to the dish with Mayo on first and two away in the frame, and on the third pitch of the at-bat, deposit the ball over the center field fence, giving the Purple Eagles a 9-7 lead.
Cara Leone, who came on in the fifth, faced four batters in the sixth, allowing a run on two hits as Siena got a run back to make it a 9-8 game.
Despite allowing the tying run into scoring position in the seventh, Thompson closed out the contest for her fifth save of the season.
Niagara Notes
• Niagara improves to 22-24 against Siena dating back to 2003.
• The Purple Eagles' nine runs in the contest is their most against the Saints since May 7, 2010.
• Niagara earned its 22nd win of the season, its most since 2010 and tied for fifth-most in program history.
• Niagara's 192 runs scored this season is fifth-most in program history.
• Cenname's home run was her third of the season, while Hare connected on her fifth.
• Myshrall hit two doubles and drove in three runs, her ninth multi-hit game and sixth multi-RBI game of the season.
• Hare now leads the team with 26 RBI, followed by Myshrall and Marrero with 24.
• Thompson notched her fifth save of the season, a new single-season program record.
• Hickingbottom struck seven batters.
Up Next
Niagara returns to Monteagle Ridge on Friday, April 26 for the first two games of a three-game series with the Rider Broncs. First pitch of the doubleheader is set for 2 p.m.
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