Castiglione’s slam aids Penguins split

Castiglione’s slam

aids Penguins split

By Steve WILAJ

swilaj@vindy.com

KENT

First came the big hit. Then came the crucial errors.

Splitting a doubleheader at Kent State on Wednesday, Youngstown State won the first game, 7-6, on Miranda Castiglione’s seventh-inning go-ahead grand slam, before dropping the second game, 3-2, done in by two sixth-inning errors.

“In the first game, one swing of the bat ends up keying us, then at the end of the second game, we had our chance and, again, one swing could have put us there,” said head coach Brian Campbell, whose team is 24-18.

“At the end of the day, I credit Kent State for battling along right with us. They’re a very good team.”

Prior to Castiglione’s clutch blast, Kent State (29-18) jumped ahead by two runs early in the first game, before YSU used a three-run third inning to take a 3-2 lead. Castiglione notched an RBI double, followed by Brittney Moffatt’s two-run single.

But the Flashes answered with two runs in the fourth, while Ronnie Ladines hit a two-run home run in the fifth to put KSU ahead, 6-3. The Flashes did all their damage off YSU starter Paige Geanangel, who allowed six runs on 11 hits in six innings.

KSU starter Ladines was cruising until the seventh inning when, with one out, Hannah Lucas singled and Maria Lacatena walked, followed by Cali Mikovich’s two-out single to load the bases.

That set up Castiglione’s no-doubt, go-ahead homer that landed deep beyond the left-field wall. It was the senior’s ninth home run of the season and first career grand slam. Caitlyn Minney then pitched a perfect seventh inning to earn the save.

“My goal was just to stay relaxed, see a pitch and drive it,” said Castiglione, who finished the day 2 for 5 with five RBIs, four runs and three walks. “She got me on the changeup in the first at-bat. So I was looking for it in that at-bat and drove through it.”

YSU scored first in the second game, taking a 1-0 first-inning lead when Castiglione walked and came around to score on an error.

Minney made that lead hold up until the fifth inning, when Kent State finally broke through to tie the contest on a sacrifice fly. Still, Minney stranded runners on second and third to end the inning.

She couldn’t do the same in the sixth, though, as Arika Roush and Michele Duffy notched consecutive two-out RBI singles to give the Flashes a two-run lead. Both came after YSU committed two errors earlier in the frame. Minney (12-7, 4.01 ERA) went six innings and surrendered eight hits and one earned run.

“That’s part of softball — unfortunately little things like that happen,” Campbell said. “But I’m just proud of how we continued to fight through it.”

The Penguins tried to rally again in the seventh — Moffatt’s RBI double cut the deficit to one — but, in relief, Ladines forced Stevie Taylor into a popout to end the game.

YSU finished 9-7 in April and has won three of its last five games. The Penguins — who have just six regular season games remaining — are off until Tuesday when they begin a three-game series at Detroit with a doubleheader.

“We had a couple setbacks [in the second game], but we came back in the seventh inning and fought hard,” Castiglione said. “It was nice to see us play so well going into conference play.”