Box Score (St. Francis) 
Box Score (Hunter) 

KISSIMMEE, FLA. – The William Paterson softball team (2-0) opened its 2009 season with a pair of victories at the Rebel Spring Games in Kissimmee, Fla., March 14. The Pioneers defeated St. Francis in their opener, 11-6, and finished the day with a 9-1 win against Hunter.

GAME ONE
Sophomore Lindsey Nadolny (Belford, N.J./Middletown North) was 3-for-4 with a double, RBI and two runs scored as the Pioneers scored five runs in the bottom of the first against St. Francis (4-8) and never relinquished the lead in an 11-6 victory.

Trailing 1-0 early, sophomore Jenna Vitale (Kenilworth, N.J./David Brearley) tied the score with a RBI-double during the Pioneers' first at-bat, junior Christina Zippler (Blackwood, N.J./Washington Twp.) later scored on a wild pitch, classmate Lacey Santone (South Plainfield, N.J./South Plainfield) doubled in Vitale, and sophomore Nicole Jimmerson (North Bergen, N.J./High Tech) blasted a two-run homer, staking William Paterson to a 5-1 advantage.

St. Francis fought back to within one, scoring three unearned runs during the second inning, but the Pioneers plated two unearned runs of their own during the bottom of the second when Nadolny and Zippler crossed home plate on an error by the St. Francis second baseman.

A Jillian Mulderig (Sewell, N.J./Washington Twp.) fourth-inning single scored Jimmerson and gave the Pioneers an 8-4 lead. Following two more unearned runs for the Saints in the top of the fifth, William Paterson finished the scoring with three runs in the bottom of the inning thanks to a RBI-groundout by Kerrie Mascarelli (Montvale, N.J./Pascack Hills), a run-scoring single off the bat of Nadolny and an error by the St. Francis shortstop that allowed Nadolny to trot home.

Zippler was 2-for-3 with three runs scored, while Mulderig, Heather Mendez (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge) and Ana Abourashed (Middlesex, N.J./Middlesex) each had two hits. Vitale picked up the win (1-0), allowing four hits and five runs (zero earned) in 4.0 innings. Mascarelli threw 3.0 effective innings, striking out four and giving up one unearned run for the save (one).

GAME TWO
Freshman Michele Graham (Hawthorne, N.J./Hawthorne) threw a complete-game three-hitter, allowing just one run while striking out six hitters in her collegiate debut, a 9-1 win against Hunter. Zippler and senior Meghan Reilly (Middlesex, N.J./Middlesex) each went 3-for-4 against the Hawks.

Reilly drove in the game's first run with a RBI-single in the third inning, immediately followed by a run-scoring double from Nadolny, for a 2-0 edge. Zippler crossed the plate on a two-out error during the fifth inning, and freshman Raquel Roder (Hoboken, N.J./Hoboken) drove in two more runs with a single to left field in the top of the sixth.

A sacrifice fly gave Hunter its only run of the game during the bottom of the sixth, and the Pioneers finished the scoring with three more runs in the seventh, a Reilly triple that drove in freshman Danielle DeDomenico (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West) and a two-run homer by sophomore Ashlie Gaynor (Berlin, N.J./Eastern).

Nadolny, Gaynor and Roder each tallied a pair of hits for the Pioneers against Hunter, and Reilly, Gaynor and Roder each posted two RBI.

William Paterson will face Wisconsin-River Falls at 3:00 p.m. and Nichols at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 15.