LYCOMING SOFTBALL SWEEPS DOUBLEHEADER AT DELAWARE VALLEY

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. – The Lycoming College softball team traveled to Delaware Valley College, Wednesday afternoon, for a Freedom Conference doubleheader. The Warriors snapped a four-game conference losing streak by sweeping a pair from the Aggies. Lycoming needed nine innings to post a 6-3 victory in the opener, then blanked Delaware Valley 8-0 in the nightcap (second game called after five innings due to the eight-run mercy rule). The two victories upped the Warriors’ record to 8-10 overall and 2-4 in the Freedom Conference. The Aggies fell to 6-13, 1-5.

Down 3-2 with two outs in the seventh inning of the opener, Delaware Valley pitcher Michelle Smith tied the contest and forced extra innings by drilling a double to right field that scored Amy DeBuck. DeBuck had opened the inning with a single.

Both teams failed to score in the eighth, but Lycoming broke through in the ninth with three runs on three hits and one Aggie error. Jen Shaffer (Sr./Waterville, Pa.; Jersey Shore) opened with a triple and scored on Jana Reitz's (Jr./Waynesboro, Pa.; Waynesboro) single. Katy Kresge (Sr./Lehighton, Pa.; Marian Catholic) delivered a two-out single that scored Shaffer from second. Kresge later scored on a Delaware Valley miscue.

Warrior pitcher Amanda Gery (Jr./Whitehall, Pa.; Whitehall) then got the Aggies out in order in the bottom of the ninth for her first win of the year. She allowed just three runs and five hits in nine innings of work. Amy Curry (Jr./Fallentimber, Pa.; Moshannon Valley) had two RBI to pace Lycoming.

Smith suffered the loss as she allowed six runs (four earned) in nine innings. DeBuck went 2-for-3 with two runs scored while Christine Bowie went 1-for-4 with a two-run double in the third inning that gave Delaware Valley a brief, 2-1 lead.

In the nightcap, Morgan Mantle (So./Jersey Shore, Pa.; Jersey Shore) improved her record to 3-4 as she hurled a four-hit shutout and struck out nine. The lone extra-base hit she allowed was a double by Nicole Bodell in the bottom of the fourth.

The Warriors scored four times in the first inning as five consecutive walks brought home three runs and Kresge added an RBI single. Lycoming upped their advantage with a run in the second and three more in the fifth. Curry went 3-for-3 with three RBIs while Shaffer was 2-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBIs.

COLLEGIATE SOFTBALL
Game 1

WP – Amanda Gery  LP – Michelle Smith

Game 2

WP – Morgan Mantle  LP – Christine Bowie