Panthers Softball Dominates Sarah Lawrence in Senior Day Wins

By Lena Flamm

Under gray skies that promised a day of rain ahead, the 13-15 Panthers met the Sarah Lawrence Gryphons on Purchase’s pristine new softball field for a double header divisional showdown with playoff implications.

Natalie Gallo swings for the fences. (Photo by Marin Tyree)

Though the Panthers were more determined than ever to leave victorious, the gloomy weather reflected the air of bittersweetness that always comes with the last home game of the regular season. It’s been a year of ups and downs for the Panthers, but despite losing half of their games, something about the team just can’t be classified as mediocre. They’re familiar with losses, yes- but when they win, they win in spectacular fashion. In eight of their 13 wins this season, they had outscored their opponents by over 10 runs. Seven of those wins were shutouts, the other a 17-1 victory. At certain moments this season, the team looked like the best in the Conference, then the next game, a different energy. There seemed to be no major pattern regarding home-field advantage, nor changes in the roster. So what is the magic that seems to course through the veins of these athletes so unpredictably? And could it be channeled today, when a win mattered more than ever?

With Game One underway, Liv Goff stepped up to the plate to pitch what could be her last home game as a Purchase Panther. She proved why she had been an invaluable player for the team almost immediately, confidently striking out the first two batters. Despite the Gryphons then managing to get runners on second and third, Goff squashed their hopes of scoring in the first inning with another strikeout. In the bottom of the first, the Panthers continued to show no mercy. With sophomore Arielle Reddick on third and freshman Christiana Bazzini on second, Reddick scored on a wild pitch from the Gryphons’ Shirin Pechefsky. In the next play, sophomore Sariah Sanchez singled to first base, and Bazzini reached home. Two plays later, Sanchez had made her way around the bases as well.

The team had reached an almost mechanical level of efficiency, yet seemed carefree and jubilant all the while, cheering on their teams and cracking jokes.

With junior Devynn Hernandez on second and Goff on third, Mel Harper, the other player being honored for Senior Day, Mel Harper singled to right field and earned two more RBI to add to her college stats. As the first inning closed with the Panthers leading 5-0, the Gryphons were beginning to realize they had their work cut out for them.

Arielle Reddick celebrates a run. (Photo by Marin Tyree)

  The nightmare didn’t stop there, as the top of the second concluded as quickly as it had begun, with Goff striking out the first three batters. Reddick scored on an unearned run in the bottom of the second. The third saw both teams seeming to have lost their mojo, as both halves of the inning lasted only three consecutive outs. At the top of the fourth, despite the Gryphons’ Caileigh Koenig advancing to third, the half concluded with a ground ball from Miriam Kanter-Goodell, which was thrown to third base, then first, for the team’s third out.

 After a disappointing last inning, while the Panthers remained up six, it was unclear if they had tired themselves out. However, the bottom of the fourth saw the Panthers once again at their best, continuing the morning’s reign of terror. In the first play of the half, junior Sam Christopher homered and made her way around the bases in a run that reignited the electricity of the team, the dugout reaching its highest volume. In the next three plays, the Panthers loaded the bases, Bazzini on first, Reddick on second, and junior Halle Greaige on third. Sanchez doubled to left field, and Greaige and Reddick scored two more runs that brought the Panthers up 9 to 0. Hernandez then singled to shortstop, allowing Bazzini to reach home, rounding out the score to 10. After Goff struck out the first three batters in the top of the fifth, the game concluded with an impressive shutout from Purchase.

  “I feel like once we get the bats hitting, in the first, second inning, that’s when everything kinda gets going, and you start feeling out the game,” Hernandez said, when asked about the moment she started feeling the momentum that would lead to a dominant match. “I think definitely then, is when everything started happening.” She also credited the team’s success to their unrelenting support of each other. “It means a lot. You know, it’s hard, it’s a mental sport, so it’s nice to have a team that backs you up even in your hardest of times.”

  The second game proved to be an almost identical torture for Sarah Lawrence, freshman Bryce Kane replacing Goff to pitch for the Panthers, and Pechefsky replacing Koenig as pitcher for the Gryphons. Bazzini continued to be an indispensable rookie for the team, doubling through the left side for Reddick to score in the first. In the bottom of the second, after Sarah Lawrence concluded their turn with three outs in three plays (Pechefsky grounded out to shortstop, Kanter-Goodell popped up to first base, and Lily Singh struck out swinging), the Panthers had their highest-scoring inning of the day. With Kane on second and Greaige on third, Hernandez singled up the middle and Greaige scored. Freshman Natalie Gallo bunted, causing Hernandez to advance around the bases and score on a throwing error by Pechefsky. Directly after, Reddick, who finished freshman year with 31 RBI, batted a home run that sent a new wave of energy surging through the crowd. Bazzini homered for another run directly after.

Bryce Kane drops the bat on her way to first base. (Photo by Marin Tyree)

The top of the third saw Kane strike out the first three batters, and in the bottom, Gallo singled, advancing bases on an error by the infielder, scoring unearned, behind Hernandez and Kane, who were on second and third, respectively. The score was once again 10-0 Purchase, and as rain started to fall lightly over the field, there seemed to be an energy drained from the Gryphons, as if they wanted to skip the pleasantries and call it another loss. The fourth was a series of errors for both teams, with neither able to advance a player past first base, and the fifth concluded in brutal fashion for the Gryphons, with Kane once again striking out the first three.  

As the showers began to fall more heavily, the Gryphons cleared the field, disappointed, yet their pride was not shaken. Pechefsky saw the faults in her pitching performance and was determined to improve. “I do think I could have been pitching a little bit faster, a little bit speedier, because I was really trying to locate stuff,” she said. “SUNY Purchase has a stacked lineup of hitters. I definitely could have been faster with what I was throwing. My placement was good, but my speed was off.”

Shirin Pechefsky is in the zone. (Photo by Marin Tyree)

As for the Panthers, Reddick, despite a memorable performance, admitted this win was not for her. “I think before the game even started, we wanted this for our seniors,” she said. “So we came into it knowing we had to be big and strong, and we did what we had to do.”

With those wins, the Panthers advanced to 15-15 overall and 5-7 in the Skyline Conference. They are in the seventh seed, one seed below clinching a playoff position. While it’s obvious they must rise to the challenge ahead, Reddick believes the team is ready, and after two double-digit shutouts, the Panthers might be the feisty wild card that could add an undeniable entertainment value to the playoffs. “Honestly, we really needed this win in the conference, so I think this is gonna be the start of a winning streak going forward.”