West Chester, Pa. – In a last-minute schedule change, the Le Moyne College softball team traveled to West Chester University on Friday to play a season-opening doubleheader against the Golden Rams.

Le Moyne defeated West Chester during game one of the doubleheader by a score of 4-3 to earn their first win of the season, then the Golden Rams came from behind in game two and claimed an 8-2 victory over the Dolphins in the second half of the doubleheader.

"I thought both Julia [Panarella] and Laura [Bennett] gave solid pitching performances for their first day in the dirt," said Le Moyne Head Coach Tracey Roman following the doubleheader. "Clutch hitting in game one helped secure the win. I felt the quality of our at bats deteriorated somewhat in game two which is something we'll need to improve moving forward. Overall the good outweighed the bad but we're not satisfied with splitting. Splitting doesn't cut it anymore. The bar has been raised and we can't wait to get back to practice and attack areas that were exposed today," Roman added.

Game 1:
During her collegiate debut, freshman Audrey Benderski (Spring Lake Park, Minn./Spring Lake Park) started as a designated player in Le Moyne's lineup and went 2-4 at the plate with two RBIs during the win.

Sophomore pitcher Julia Panarella (Southington, Conn./Southington) started in the circle for Le Moyne and recorded five strikeouts in 4.1 innings pitched to get the win in her season debut. West Chester scored three runs on Panarella, then redshirt-junior right-hander Laura Bennett (Corning, N.Y./Corning-Painted Post) entered the game in the bottom of the fifth inning and held the Golden Rams scoreless during the final 2.2 innings to earn the save and seal the win for the 'Phins. Bennett struck out seven of the nine batters that she faced during the relief appearance.

West Chester put a runner on third with one out in the bottom of the first inning, then Panarella recorded a strikeout and got a flyout to Jillian Dunn (Fiskdale, Mass./Tantasqua Regional) in right field to end the inning and keep the game scoreless after one frame.

In the top of the second inning, senior first baseman Mckenzie Bergdoll (Attleboro, Mass./Attleboro) drew a leadoff walk then advanced to second base on a passed ball. Freshman Emilee Gallagher (New Windsor, N.Y./Newburgh Free Academy) came in for Bergdoll as a pinch runner. Sophomore second baseman Dominique Rinaldi (Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) drew a walk, then Dunn laid down a bunt to advance both runners.

With Gallagher and Rinaldi at third and second, respectively, sophomore Elaina Kassap (Long Beach, N.Y./Long Beach) stepped to the plate as a pinch hitter and hit a ground ball to the left side of the infield that drove in Gallagher from third base to give the 'Phins a 1-0 lead.

The Golden Rams took the lead in the bottom of the third inning. Senior Grace Aguilar drove in two runs for West Chester with a double to left center field, and senior Katelyn Rittenbaugh crossed the plate following a wild pitch to put the Golden Rams up 3-1.

Sophomore Alyssa Dybacz (Baldwinsville, N.Y./Charles W. Baker) drew a walk to lead off the top of the fifth inning for Le Moyne, then following a pitching change, graduate catcher Cassidy Barrett (Apalachin, N.Y./Vestal) drove a double into the left-center field gap. Sophomore third baseman Frankie Larobardiere (North Syracuse, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse/Onondaga C.C.) was hit by a pitch to load the bases with zero outs.

Benderski stepped to the plate next. The rookie turned on the first pitch that she saw and hit the ball hard down the left field line, driving in both Dybacz and Barrett to tie the game at 3-3.

During Le Moyne's next at bat, Bergdoll hit the ball high in the air towards shallow center field, and it dropped to the ground between multiple WCU players. Larobardiere scored from third base on the play to put the 'Phins up 4-3.

Following a one-out bunt single in the bottom of the fifth, Bennett entered the game and recorded two strikeouts to end the inning and maintain Le Moyne's lead. Bennett struck out the side in the bottom of the sixth inning, then tallied two more strikeouts during a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh to close the game.
 
Game 2:
Bennett started in the circle for Le Moyne during game two and recorded 10 strikeouts in 5.2 innings pitched. Bennett allowed two earned runs during her first start of the 2023 campaign.

After a scoreless first two innings, the Golden Rams broke through in the bottom of the third with a leadoff triple from Madison Melvin followed by an infield base hit from Rittenbaugh.

Kassap came up with a leadoff single in the bottom of the fifth for the 'Phins, and Gallagher came in to pinch run. Rinaldi singled to left field, then both runners advanced one base on a passed ball. With Dunn at the plate, Gallagher scored on a passed ball to tie the game at 1-1, and Rinaldi advanced to third.

On the second pitch of her at bat, Dunn drove the ball into the left-center field gap. The ball was caught by the center fielder, but Rinaldi tagged up at third and ran home to give Dunn an RBI sacrifice fly and give the 'Phins a 2-1 lead.

The Golden Rams scored seven runs during the bottom of the sixth inning that was capped off by a grand slam homerun to put them up 8-2.

Freshman right-hander Samantha Klug pitched a 1-2-3 top of the seventh inning for the Golden Rams to earn herself a complete game victory. Klug struck out five Le Moyne batters and did not allow a walk in 7.0 innings pitched.

The Dolphins will meet the Golden Rams again on February 24 in Columbus, Georgia for the NFCA Leadoff Classic.