Johnson's Walk Off Spurs Doubleheader Sweep

(CLERMONT, Fla.) - Freshman Piper Johnson (Riverside, Calif. / Martin Luther King) hit the first home run in program history and it happened to be a walk-off shot to lead the Carnegie Mellon University softball team to a 6-4 game one victory against SUNY Potsdam on Thursday, March 14. The Tartans then knocked around 17 hits in a 19-4 second game victory against the Bears. The Tartans move to 3-5 for the season while Potsdam dropped to 3-7.

Game 1: Carnegie Mellon 6, SUNY Potsdam 4

The Tartans led 4-0 after four innings, scoring twice in the bottom of the third and bottom of the fourth. Freshman Amanda Schwartz (Fairfield, N.J. / West Essex Regional), who earned her first win on the mound, grounded in the first run while Johnson singled in freshman Emily Song (Mount Arlington, N.J. / Roxbury) who reached on a single up the middle for the second run. In the fourth, senior Rae Lasko (Diamond Bar, Calif. / Diamond Bar) doubled to left field scoring freshman Kyra Musmanno (West Windsor, N.J. / West Windsor-Plainsboro) who reached on an error. Later in the inning, Song hit a sacrifice fly to score Lasko.

The Bears knotted the score at 4-all in the top of the seventh when Sidney Miller hit a two-run homer and Megan Fish got a blooper to fall in front of a diving Song at second base to score the tying run with two outs.

In the Tartans half of the inning, Schwartz walked with one out and stole second on the first pitch. Johnson then smacked the 1-0 pitch to left center for the game-winning hit.

Schwartz struck out five batters while surrendering eight hits in the win.

Game 2: Carnegie Mellon 19, SUNY Potsdam 4

Freshman Megan Hu (Katy, Texas / Seven Lakes) finished game two with five hits in six at bats with six runs batted in and three runs scored. Song, senior Renee Madrigal (Norwalk, Calif. / St. Paul) and Lasko also had a multi-hit game with two apiece including a double by Madrigal. Madrigal recorded four RBIs while Song tripled in a run.

The Tartans broke the game open in the top of the sixth with four hits and five runs after leading 5-4. Johnson led off with a pinch hit single up the middle before freshman Meghan Holquist (Ellicott City, Md. / Mount Hebron) followed with a pinch hit single to right center. With one out, Hu singled to third base when she beat out a high throw to first and advanced to second when the first baseman threw to third attempting to get Holquist out. Later in the inning with the bases loaded, Madrigal hit a three-run double down the left field line to finish the scoring.

In the final inning, freshman Agnes Zhou (Fremont, Calif. / Mission San Jose) recorded her first base hit of the year to lead off the inning. Lasko followed with a single but Zhou was thrown out at third which allowed Lasko to advance to second. Hu doubled in Lasko and then scored when Song hit a triple to right center. Freshman Io Jette-Kouri (Pasadena, Calif. / Westridge) then roped a double to left center and scored on a fielding error when Madrigal reached safely. The Tartans then scored five more runs in the inning to close out the game.

Freshman Gwen Delacruz (Laguna Nigel, Calif. / Aliso Niguel) earned her first win scattering seven hits and striking out two while knocking in the first two runs of the game with a single to right field.

Carnegie Mellon will complete its trip to Florida with two games on Friday beginning at 12:15 p.m. against Haverford College before facing Eastern Connecticut State at 2:30 p.m.