Baseball
The Violets kicked off its weekend slate of four conference matches against Washington University in St. Louis in a Friday doubleheader. NYU won the first match 11-5 before losing the second 12-1.
In the first game, graduate student Kosta Mocklis hit a grand slam in the third inning, putting the Violets ahead 4-0. NYU batted an additional five runs in by the seventh inning before the Bears’ first run. In the second game, the Violets were unable to get on the board through the first four innings. Sophomore Aidan Howladar scored the lone run for NYU on a sacrifice fly from Mocklis.
On Saturday, the Violets fell in a staggering 23-5 game against the Bears. The game opened with senior Harrison Blueweiss scoring a run at the top of the first off a wild pitch. WashU responded with seven runs and led for the rest of the game. At the top of the third, sophomore CJ Franchini hit his third career home run in back-to-back games.
NYU closed out with an 11-1 loss, finishing the weekend with a 1-3 record. The Bears took an early lead in the game, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first. NYU’s lone run came from Howladar off a wild pitch.
The Violets will step up to bat again on Wednesday against Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY.
Golf
On Monday, the No. 3-ranked NYU women’s golf came out first of 16 teams after the first two rounds of the Randolph-Macon Stith Invitational in Richmond, VA. Four Violets placed in the top 10 golfers at the end of day one, with the team scoring a +9 in the first round and a -3 in the second for a total of +6 by the end of the first day.
NYU closed out the competition victorious in the third and final round on Tuesday, carding a +15 to secure the team’s No. 1 place. Sophomore Naomi Tan led the Violets and finished the competition tied for first overall. First-year Jiayi Fu carded a -2 in the third round and finished third overall with a score of +2.
Both teams return to the green on Saturday, with the women playing in the Leaman Invitational and the men taking on the Tim Brown Invitational.
Softball
The softball team traveled to St. Louis on Friday for a doubleheader at No. 11 WashU, losing 8-0 in five innings in both games.
The Bears scored the first two runs of Friday’s opener, and the Violets failed to capitalize on runners in scoring position in the first two innings. In the second game, WashU earned five runs early on in the bottom of the second inning. Junior Nicole Cicchetti led the Violets at bat, hitting 2-for-4 between the two games and earning a walk.
On Saturday, the Violets gained momentum, holding the Bears to just two runs through the first five innings and heading into the bottom of the sixth with a tie. WashU ultimately took it back, scoring four runs to close out the sixth inning. After a scoreless seventh for NYU, the game ended 6-2.
Junior Victoria Negron came home for a run at the top of the third inning after Cicchetti grounded out to second base. The Violets tied it up at the top of the sixth when Kiefer scored off of first-year Emma Sung’s single. With Sung and Cicchetti on second and third, NYU was primed to take the lead, but WashU kept it even with an out to end the inning.
NYU will be back at home on Friday for a doubleheader against Case Western Reserve University at the Bahoshy Softball Complex in the Bronx.
Track & field
On Friday, the Violets competed in the Metropolitan Outdoor Championships at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island, NY. The men’s and women’s teams placed 10th out of 12 and 11th out of 13, respectively.
NYU’s best finishes of the day came from senior Emma Grunin, who placed fourth in the javelin throw with 36.01m, and senior Daniel Lee, who threw 41.55m for fourth place.
The team headed to Princeton University to compete in the Sam Howell Invitational and Distance Classic the next day. NYU’s best event was the women’s 5,000m run, in which sophomore Katharine Frank took the No. 10 spot out of 29 runners with a time of 17:44.31. Sophomore Huckleberry Oakes represented the men’s team in the 1,500m run and finished with a time of 3:56.71 to take 24th place of 64 competitors.
Both teams will compete next on Friday for the Silfen Invitational at Connecticut College.
Volleyball
The No. 9-ranked men’s volleyball team capped out its regular season on Wednesday with a 3-2 reverse sweep in a UVC showdown against tied-No. 20 Vassar College. The first sets saw the Violets fall 25-15 and 25-20 before rallying to win the next three sets.
Neither team was able to hold a lead of more than three points during the third set. The score was tied before the Violets scored two consecutive points to win the set 25-23. In the fourth, the score tied 15 times before the Violets went on a six-point run to take the set 25-19.
NYU went on a three-point scoring streak in the final set after a 4-4 tie and never lost the lead en route to a 15-9 win. Junior Emerson Evans led the team with 21 kills and two assists while junior Devyn Nguyen notched 44 assists.
The Violets return to the court against St. John Fisher University on Friday for the first round of the UVC Championship hosted by State University of New York at New Paltz.
Contact Sherry Chen and Kiran Komanduri at [email protected].