Paulino Honored on Grad Day as Delhi Drops Two to Cazenovia

Graduating player Yesileidy Paulino receiving her framed photo with coaches Meagan Hillard and Greg Keesler on grad day.

DELHI, N.Y. (April 23, 2019) – SUNY Delhi softball welcomed their home fans on Tuesday as they took on Cazenovia in an afternoon doubleheader. The Broncos dropped two competitive contests, with the Wildcats taking the opener, 9-4, then rallying for five runs in the seventh for a 12-8 decision in the closing game.

Head coach Meagan Hillard and the SUNY Delhi Athletics staff honored graduating player Yesileidy Paulino prior to Tuesday's games. Paulino, a sophomore, will be graduating from SUNY Delhi with an Associate's in Physical Education. She is one of four Broncos this season batting above .400, ranking third with a .419 average, and leads the team with eight doubles, while posting ten RBIs.

Delhi, now 10-12, has three straight road dates this weekend to wrap up the regular season, playing at Houghton this Friday, then a two-day series at Alfred State Saturday and Sunday. The Broncos recently secured the four seed for next weekend's ACAA Tournament, hosted by Alfred State, where they'll face one-seed Thomas More on Saturday, May 4 at 10:00 a.m. in the four-team, double-elimination competition.

CAZENOVIA 9, DELHI 4

While the Wildcats lineup drilled 18 hits on their way to a win, the game remained tight in the early going. With each side exchanging one run in the first, Cazenovia took four runs in the top of the second for a 5-1 lead. Delhi bounced back in the third with three runs, thanks in part to RBI singles from Sierra Keesler and pitcher Molly Greene, to cut the deficit to one at 5-4. As the Wildcats got one back to push their lead up to 6-4, the Broncos' bats fell silent with three scoreless innings of relief from McKenzie Harris. Wildcats starter Serafina French went the opening four frames, allowing four earned runs on six hits with one strikeout. Caz added two runs in the sixth and one in the seventh.

Keesler batted 3-for-4 with one double and two RBIs, whiel Mackenzie Sparacino was 2-for-3 with one double. Greene was 1-for-3 with one RBI and pitched all seven innings, allowing five earned runs on 18 hits.

CAZENOVIA 12, DELHI 8

The Wildcats appeared to pounce on control of game two early, taking Broncos starter Haylee Lefebvre for three runs in each of the first two innings for a 6-0 advantage. Delhi then orchestrated an incredible two-out rally in the bottom of the second to tie the game up. Following two consecutive put outs to start the inning, the Broncos rocked Caz starter Abigail House for six runs on six hits before out number three to knot up the contest at 6-6.

With consecutive singles from Samantha Mendelsohn, Rachael Scoones and Mackenzie Sparacino to load the bases, Jaylynn Sheppard beat out an infield single for the first run. Natasha Picozzi then hit a floater to shallow right center, which popped out of the glove of the second baseman to bring home Scoones and Sparacino. Shelby Nolan kept things going with an RBI single, followed by the game-tying, two-RBI single by Sierra Keesler.

Though the Wildcats regained the lead with one run in the fourth, Mendelsohn gave Delhi a spark in the fifth with a two-RBI single for the Broncos' first lead of the day at 8-7. But Delhi's hopes to split the homestand were dashed when Cazenovia posted five runs in its last chance in the seventh inning. With the heart of the lineup due up, the first three batters for the Wildcats loaded the bases, as Caz earned one run at a time on either a hit, fielder's choice, sacrifice fly, or error. A Yesileidy Paulino would serve as the Broncos' only offensive rebuttal in the bottom half.

Lefebvre went all seven innings, allowing eight earned runs on 13 hits with four strikeouts. Keesler and Mendelsohn were both 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs. Sparacino was 2-for-3.