3/6/22
 
SB: Falcons Open 2022 Season In Doubleheader Against Bay College
 
Scranton, PA – The Lackawanna College Softball team gets their 2022 season started when they take on Bay College out of the upper peninsula of Michigan on Sunday, March 6^th, at the Cal Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. First pitch of the doubleheader is set for 3:00pm ET.
 
About The Falcons
Lackawanna College has not played yet this season, and will look to build on last year's 17-11 finish, where the Falcons made it to the Region XIX Playoffs before falling in the championship game to Delaware Tech.
 
The Falcons return several players from last year's squad, including the majority of the pitching staff. Back to lead the hurlers for Lackawanna is Meghan Fritz, who went 8-1 last season with a 3.74 ERA in 54 innings pitched, striking out 30 batters. Stephanie Kibbe and Tess Ruschman are also a pair of pitchers back for the Falcons, splitting nine starts between themselves last year. Ruschman had a 3.94 ERA in 21.1 innings pitched last season, while Kibbe struck out 15 batters in 26.2 innings pitched. Alivia Graber and Jennifer Wolak are a pair of new faces that will be expected to contribute to the staff this year.
 
The Falcons also return a pair of dangerous bats in Savannah Glover and Madison McVicar. Glover had a .349 batting average in 20 appearances, and had an OBP of .429. McVicar had a 1.063 OPS with eight extra base hits, three of which were homeruns.
 
Lackawanna College also added some young talent from Northeast PA. Gwen Balavage and Emma McNally, who both earned Lackawanna League All-Star Honors at nearby Scranton Prep and Scranton, respectively, will be expected to contribute right away, as will Wilkes-Barre Area recruit Alexis Semanek. Catarena Sommers, a freshman from Ohio, will also see time for the Falcons.
 
Jeff Pittsman enters his eleventh season at the helm of the Falcons program. After some early growing pains when he took over in 2012, coach Pitt overhauled the Falcons program, turning it into a Region XIX contender year-in, and year-out. The Falcons had four straight seasons of 20+ wins, starting in 2016, and might have had another if not for the pandemic shuttering the 2020 season early. Pittsman is a two-time EPAC Coach of the Year, and has been a fixture in local softball circles for year. An NEPA native and Mid Valley HS graduate, Pittsman began his coaching career in football with the Mid Valley program, and other various schools around the area, before transitioning into coaching softball at the travel-team level. Eventually, his credentials helped him land the job with Lackawanna College, where he took over a team with barely enough players to safely compete, and steadily built the program into a winner.
 
About The Opponents
The Bay College Norse (5-3) are the opponents for the Falcons on Sunday afternoon. Bay College comes into the contest on a two-game skid, having dropped both their games on Saturday at the Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach, losing 10-1 to Catawba Valley CC and 6-5 to Rochester CTC. The loss to Rochester was particularly tough, as the Norse played well, holding a 5-4 advantage heading into the 7^th inning, but errors came back to bite them, allowing Rochester to score twice in the top half to re-take the lead, and then close out the bottom half for the win. In all, Bay College had four errors. Ellie Miller went 2-for-3 with a homer and three RBIs for the Norse, while Sarah Wynn also went 2-for-3 with a run scored at the top of the lineup. The Norse had wasted opportunities, with 18 runners left on base throughout the game.
 
As a team this year, Bay College is hitting .371, with a .509 slugging percentage. They have 25 extra base hits, 20 of which have been doubles, and they're averaging eight runs per game so far this season. The pitching staff has been decent, holding a collective 4.31 ERA. They've struck out 30 batters in 50.1 innings pitched so far this year, surrendering 54 combined hits and allowing 51 runs, 31 of which have been earned. The errors have killed the Norse, with 19 already this season.
 
Wynn has been outstanding at the plate, leading the team with a .536 batting average so far this year, along with a .594 OBP and .786 SLG. She also leads the Norse in hits (15), doubles (7), and runs scored (11). She's second on the team with seven RBIs so far this year. Wynn had three doubles and a pair of RBIs against Gogebic CC earlier this year, and hit a pair of doubles against Milwaukee Area TC, while driving in a pair of runs.
 
The aforementioned Ellie Miller is second on the squad with a .435 batting average in 23 appearances at the plate. Miller has the only two homeruns so far this year for the Norse, and is second on the team in slugging (.696). Her ten hits also have her second on the squad, and she's third on the team with six RBIs. Miller had an exceptional game against Gogebic CC earlier this spring, going 5-for-5 from the plate in a 12-4 win.
 
Pitcher Rachael Winkel has been dangerous at the plate for the Norse, driving in the most RBIs (8) on the squad, and the second-most doubles (3) so far this young season. She's hitting around .320 this year. Winkel had a really hot start to the year, going 5-for-8 in her first two games, driving in four runs, but she has gone 0-for-6 in her last three games. She was 0-for-1 with a walk against Rochester CTC in her last game at the plate.
 
Ultility player CC Pilon is hitting .381 so far this season, her eight hits tying her for third on the team this year. Pilon is tied for the team lead in walks (4) and is third on the team in OBP (.480). Pilon was 3-for-4 with two runs scored against Gogebic CC earlier this year. She went 1-for-3 with a run scored and a walk in the loss to Rochester CTC.
 
Avery Sorochan leads the team in stolen bases this year with four swipes. She has nine runs scored this year, which ties her with Pilon for second on the team, and has two doubles and a triple on the year. She's struck out a team-high seven times so far this season. Sorochan had a nice 3-for-3 showing against Gogebic CC earlier this year, hitting a double and a triple, bringing two runs home, and swiping three bags on the day. She was 0-for-2 with a strikeout against Rochester CTC.
 
Rachael Winkel has been the staff workhorse so far in the circle, pitching 19 innings on the year. She's gone 2-2 in her four appearances, boasting a 5.16 ERA and walking more batters than she has struck out (18 BBs vs. 13 K's). Winkel's best start came in the first game of the year, where she went six innings, giving up just two hits and striking out eight batters, in an 8-0 win over Milwaukee Area TC. In her last game, she lasted into the fourth inning, going four-and-a-third innings against Catawba, who put ten runs, four earned, on nine hits on the board, while drawing five walks from Winkel in a 10-1 loss for the Norse.
 
Natalie Belanger has pitched 11.2 innings so far this year, going 2-0 in her two appearances in the circle, and boasting a 1.20 ERA. She went a complete game against Gogebic, striking out and walking five batters, each, and giving up seven hits and four runs, but still coming out with the win. She picked up another win in her last appearance, in relief, when she went 3.2 innings against Milwaukee Area TC, giving up just one hit and securing the 13-8 win.
 
Karlie Patron is 0-1 in her two appearances this year, going 10.2 innings for the Norse on the season. Patron has a 1.97 ERA, but has given up ten hits on the year, and allowed 11 runs, only three of which were earned. Earlier this year, Patron went 3.2 innings in a start against Bryant & Stratton, allowing four hits and giving up five runs, two earned, in a game where the Norse would end up winning 8-7. She received the loss against Rochester CTC in her last game, going the distance but giving up six runs, just one earned, on six hits.
 
The Norse are led by first year head coach Ross Rahoi. Coach Rahoi is just the second coach in the history of the program, which started playing competition in 2019. He served as assistant for all three seasons under the first head coach, Heidi Charon, helping the Norse to a 54-45 overall record, with a pair of Region 13 Championship game appearances to their name already. Rahoi is well known in Upper Peninsula softball circles, having been an assistant coach at Escanaba High School, where, in six years, he helped the squad win 189 games, six District championships, four Regional Championships, and back-to-back state titles in 2018 and 2019. Rahoi, a Bay College graduate, has been involved with coaching travel softball, baseball, and basketball for a number of years. He graduated with an Associate's Degree from Bay College in 2009, and received a Bachelor's Degree from Northern Michigan in 2012.
 
Game Information
First pitch of the doubleheader is set for 3:00pm ET on Sunday, March 6^th, at the Cal Ripken Experience Softball Complex in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The second game is scheduled for a 5:00pm ET start.
 
There will be a video livestream available for both games via Playsight. It is a subscription-based service, and there is a monetary cost to access live and on-demand video streams. You can find that site, along with info on how to join and watch, via this link HERE.
 
Short of that, the Lackawanna College Athletics Department will do its best to keep fans up-to-date on the latest scoring updates via our Twitter page HERE.

Next up, the Falcons have another doubleheader on Monday, March 7th, right back against the Norse from Bay College. First pitch is set for 1:00pm ET for the first game, with a 3:00pm ET scheduled start for the second game.