The women’s softball team advanced past the John Jay Bloodhounds to reach the semifinals. The game was held on Wednesday, May 2, at Randall’s Island. Baruch dominated the game and didn’t stop until the scoreboard read 9-1. The day before, Baruch split a double-header with Manhattanville. They lost the first game 1-2 but won the second game 4-0.

Senior and team captain Carmen Pagan-Colon said the positive experience from shutting out Manhattanville in the second game carried over to the quarterfinals game. “I think the team came together after a big win against Manhattanville so we had good momentum coming in,” she said.

John Jay’s first and only run came in the top of the first inning when Baruch starting pitcher Nicole Flint gave up an RBI double. The Bearcats responded in the bottom of the first with three runs of their own. All three runs were batted in by sophomore Olivia Auman, who hit a home run with freshman Toniann Donde and Pagan-Colon on base.

Baruch’s second inning had some potential but it fizzled out into nothing. When Auman stepped up to the plate for her second at bat, she flied out to center and left three Bearcats on base. Luckily, the team made it up in the third with another three runs. This time it was freshman Courtney White who hit a three run home run.

Meanwhile, Flint was working on a great pitching performance. After giving up a walk, a hit and a run in the first inning, she pitched four perfect innings; she finished with an impressive six strikeouts. Flint also contributed on offense, going 0-1 but she did draw two walks.

Baruch added three more runs to their lead in the fourth and fifth inning thanks to Donde. In the fourth inning she hit a solo home run and in the fifth she doubled to allow senior Melanie Pellegrino and junior Reginale Cardinale to score. This effectively ended the game because of the mercy rule that says that a game is over if one of the teams are ahead by eight runs after five innings. Thus the game ended when Baruch’s lead stretched to 9-1.  Donde’s home run in the fourth was her sixth of the season, which is a school record.

Pagan-Colon thought that the team still had things to work on offensively despite the nine run performance, “We need to work a lot on our hitting, and we left a lot of players on base.”  The rest of the CUNY Championship was not completed in time for this edition of The Ticker.