(London, Ontario) – On Saturday afternoon, the Fanshawe Falcons (2-0) celebrated the opening of the brand new Alumni Field, as well as two wins over Conestoga (0-2) by scores of 17-10 and 9-5.
In the first game of the doubleheader, the Condors got on the board first, going up 2-0 after the top of inning one. The Falcons first hit at Alumni Field was by second year student-athlete Kennedi Roth (Stratford, ON) that advanced Samantha Fuller (Ingersoll, ON) to third base. Ali Bergman (Embro, ON) then singled to centre field to score Fuller for the first Alumni diamond run in history. Fanshawe went up 3-2 after the opening inning. The Falcons found their groove in the second inning, where pitcher Laura Chappel (Staffa, ON) had a pair of strikeouts to keep Conestoga scoreless. In the bottom of the inning, the Falcons added six runs, including a base clearing triple from Chappel. Fanshawe extended their lead to 13-3 after the third inning.
The Condors came out strong in the next two frames, recording seven runs and holding Fanshawe scoreless in the third inning to cut Fanshawe's lead to 13-10 going into the bottom of the fifth. The Falcons notched two runs in their half of the inning. Kelsey McLennan (Brandon, MB) scored on a hit from rookie Katie Berg (Stratford, ON) and Bergman scored on an error to make the score 15-10. A leadoff single from Morgan Lowry (Middlesex-Centre) got the Falcons rolling in the sixth inning. Lowry then scored on a hit from Roth. Bergman followed that with her fourth RBI, tying a Fanshawe Softball record for most RBIs in a game to make the final score 17-10. Chappell (1-0) was the winning pitcher for the Falcons, while Emily Lush (0-1) from Conestoga was the losing pitcher. Bergman was 3 for 4 at the plate, with 4 RBIs and 3 runs while rookie teammate Lowry was also 3 for 4 with 3 runs.
In the second game of the doubleheader, another nice hit by Chappel scored Roth to get the Falcons on the board in the first inning. The third frame saw Nichole Erb (Monkton, ON) hit a 2-run double to the fence to put Fanshawe up 5-1. The Condors scored two runs in the top of the fifth inning but Erb responded with a huge hit over the fence to record the first ever home run at Alumni Field.
@erb_nichole with the first home run on the new Fanshawe Alumni field! #FeartheFalcons pic.twitter.com/1BXIQIUVcO
— Fanshawe Falcons (@FanshaweFalcons) September 7, 2019
Back-to-back run scoring triples from Fuller and Roth made the score 9-3 after the sixth frame. The Condors added two runs in the seventh inning but it wouldn't be enough and the final score finished 9-5 in favour of the Falcons. Erb was 2 for 3 at the plate with a record-tying 4 RBIs and added 2 runs. She also picked up the win on the mound and Brooke Billings (0-1) took the loss.
The Falcons will look to continue their strong start to the season on Sunday, September 8 when they host the Durham Lords (2-0) at 1pm and 3pm at Alumni Field.