Fontbonne beats Xaverian in extra innings

This was the third meeting of the regular season for Fontbonne and Xaverian as the Bonnies hosted the Clippers at Dyker Park. Earlier in the season the division-leading Clippers took the first two games from the Bonnies and were poised to make it a sweep until the Bonnies rallied in the seventh inning to tie the game and eventually win in extra innings.

Fontbonne opened the first inning with two runs, only to be matched by Xaverian, which tied the game at 2-2 in the fourth. In the fifth, Sienna Bocchino was the second runner to score as the Clippers took a 4-2 lead.

With a two-run lead and 10 Fontbonne strikeouts, it appeared that Clippers pitcher Ashley Dalo had the game in hand up until the seventh. Fontbonne’s Kate Kmiotek started off the seventh with a walk and eventually scored from third on a wild pitch.  Sofia Sterlacci then followed Kmiotek and reached base on Dalo’s throwing error to first. Once on base, Sterlacci managed to reach third and scored on another wild pitch to tie the game at 4-4 to force extra innings.

In a very gritty performance, Fontbonne sophomore Rebecca DiLeo stayed on to pitch the eighth inning and managed to set all the Clippers down in a row by getting three infield outs. In the bottom of the eighth, Laura Meoli took second as Fontbonne’s tie-breaking runner. Haley Ballard then followed with a sacrifice bunt to push Meoli to third. Finally, in an attempt to pick Meoli off third base, Xaverian catcher Gianna Sempari threw down to third, only to clip the bat of Josie Lamattina. With the umpire’s ruling of a dead ball on the field, Meoli was awarded home plate as Fontbonne pulled out the close 5-4 win.