Lady Warriors Win One on Spring Trip
Seventh Inning Blast Keys Victory Over Guilford

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. --- Lycoming softball opened its 2006 season on the road at the Atlantic vs. East Challenge hosted by Virginia Wesleyan University last weekend.  The Lady Warriors, playing outside for the first time this season, were winless through three games before pulling out an extra-inning 3-2 victory over Guilford College in their final game on Saturday evening.

Trailing 2-1 going in to the bottom of the seventh against Guilford, sophomore Sarah Longino (Sewell, N.J./Paul Vi) injected life into a Lycoming offense that had managed only two hits to this point.  Longino made the third a memorable knock with her first homerun of the season to tie the game and force extra innings.

Lycoming’s defense stepped up in the top half of the eighth.  Electing to swing away instead of sacrificing the runner to third, the Quakers’ saw their tie-breaker runner retired in a rundown play between second and third.  The Lady Warriors, on the other hand, elected to play “small-ball” in the bottom of the eighth, bunting junior Betsey Reese (State College, Pa./State College) to third with one out.  Senior Christine Caroselli (Newtown, Pa./Pennsbury) didn’t waste anytime bringing Reese around as she singled to secure Lycoming’s first victory.

Junior hurler Morgan Mantle (Jersey Shore, Pa./Jersey Shore) toed the rubber twice over the weekend, losing to Methodist in the opening game, but coming back to toss eight innings of winning ball against Guilford.  In 15 overall innings pitched, Mantle surrendered four runs on 12 hits while striking out 17 batters.  Against Guilford alone, she fanned 10 batters while giving up only four hits.

Methodist College used a run in the fifth and seventh innings apiece to escape with a 2-0 victory in Lycoming’s first game.  The middle two affairs offered much more offense than the bookend contests.  Lynchburg College won Friday’s late game 13-4 while Christopher Newport University used eight runs in the first two frames to defeat the Lady Warriors 13-8 in Saturday’s first match up.

Having yet to don their cleats prior to the tournament, the Lady Warriors got off to a bit of a slow start, especially at the dish.  Through the first two games, Lycoming managed only eight hits, all going for singles.  But their bats came to life with 12 knocks against CNU.

The Lady Warriors jumped out to an early lead with a pair of first inning runs against Christopher Newport.  With one out, junior Melissa McCoy (Williamsport, Pa./Jersey Shore) singled and beat the throw to second on Longino’s fielder’s choice.  Freshman Holly Billow (Millersburg, Pa./Millersburg) walked to load the bases while fellow first year player Marissa Hastings (Old Forge, Pa./Old Forge) collected the inning’s second free pass to notch Lycoming’s first run.  Longino soon followed, crossing home thanks to a wild pitch.

The Lady Captains responded with nine unanswered runs over the next four innings to quickly regain control of the game.  Lycoming narrowed the margin to 9-4 when Billow hammered her first round-tripper of the season with a runner on base.  The Lady Warriors picked up two more in the top of the sixth thanks to an error by the second baseman and McCoy’s third hit on the day.  She’d finish the afternoon 4-for-4.

After CNU pushed four more across in the bottom of the sixth to move out to a 13-6 advantage, Lycoming made a last-ditch effort at a comeback.  Senior Leah Wilson (Ontario, Calif./Chino) and Caroselli surrounded a pair of pop-ups with singles to give the Lady Warriors a runners at first and second with two-outs.  McCoy followed with a single to load the bases.  Lady Captain hurler Lindsay Kelly hit Longino with a pitch and walked Billow to force in two runs and cut the margin to 13-8, but that would be as close as the Lady Warriors would get.

Lycoming is next in action on Saturday, March 11, as the Lady Warriors travel to Baptist Bible College to participate in the Ice Breakers Tournament.  Lycoming will face Keystone College at 11:45 a.m. and Hartwick College at 5:00 p.m.