Late Inning Struggles Sink Tigers, 8-7, to Seawolves

By: Kylie Jones, Staff Writer

The Tigers opened with a strong offensive surge that faltered in the later innings, ultimately falling 8-7 in the second match of the series against Stony Brook. 

Following a 6-2 victory against the Seawolves, Towson returned home for game two of the series– this time with Olivia Trombley taking the mound. 

The Tigers fell behind early, giving up three hits and two runs to Stony Brook in the first inning, while answering with three straight groundouts of their own to remain trailing. 

Trombley recorded her first strikeout of the game in the second inning and kept the Seawolves hitless through the third. 

The Tigers, on the other hand, had an explosive display in the second inning, which began with a home-run from catcher Madyson Peters. Stony Brook’s freshman pitcher, Crimson Rice, would struggle on the mound, allowing two walks followed by back-to-back hits from Isabella Canesi and Alyssa Myint. 

With the bases loaded, Amanda Ashe’s pinch hitting appearance ended in a strikeout, but Jenna Giattino followed with a walk to reload the bases and bring Grace Franczyk home. 

A single from Kristin Toland drove in Myint and Canesi, prompting a pitching change for the Seawolves. The inning came to a close after Toland was caught in a rundown between second and third base. 

Both teams went scoreless in the third, despite two Tiger hits from Franczyk and Myint. 

In the fourth, Stony Brook would bring home a runner accredited to a wild pitch from Trombley. Towson responded with three runs, which kicked off after the Seawolves reliever, Jordyn Fray, issued walks to Giattino and Toland. 

With bases loaded, Franczyk would go down at the plate, appearing to have injured her foot. The apparent injury didn’t stop her, however, as she was able to reach first after her hit resulted in a fielding error by Stony Brook’s third baseman. This brought Peters and Toland home. 

Canesi followed with a single to bring in Briyana Wright, which caused another pitching change for the Seawolves to close out the inning, Tigers up 7-3. 

Stony Brook was able to take advantage of the Tigers’ pitching change to Alyssa Bostley in the fifth inning, scoring five runs to take an 8-7 lead. Towson would bring in Cadence Williams for Bostley to close the tough defensive stretch in the fifth. 

The Tigers couldn’t capitalize on their final three offensive opportunities– despite having several chances to score. Notably, Wright struck out looking for the Tigers with bases loaded in the fifth.

Peters ended the game with another strikeout, going down looking, and the Tigers ultimately fell 8-7. 

The series between the Tigers and Seawolves will be decided in a rubber-match tomorrow, March 8, at 1 p.m. at TU Softball Field.