GLENSIDE, Pa. – Freshman
Rachael Shady (Lock Haven, Pa./Central Mountain) threw an 11-inning three-hitter and the Lycoming College softball team scratched two runs across in the top of the 11
th to hold off Arcadia University for a 4-3 win in the second game of Saturday, April 11's Commonwealth Conference doubleheader, helping the Warriors to a series split after falling, 8-0, in six innings in the first game.
Â
The split helped the Warriors (11-9 overall, 4-6 Commonwealth) move into a tie for the fifth and final playoff slot with Albright College (10-7 overall, 4-6 Commonwealth) with each team having three conference twinbills on their schedules.
Â
With the international tiebreaker in place after the 10
th inning in Commonwealth Conference games, the second game saw five of its seven runs crossing after the first nine innings passed with the game deadlocked at one.
Â
To start the 11
th, senior
Caroline Lapano (Harrisburg, Pa./Trinity) delivered a double to right center to score sophomore
Morgan Kunes (Beech Creek, Pa./Central Mountain). After a pinch-runner came in for Lapano, a one-out single by junior
Ashley Burger (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville Area) moved sophomore
Emma Fredericks (Hackettstown, N.J./Hackettstown) to third base before she scored on a sac fly by senior
Kali Moeller (Fredericksburg, Va./Chancellor).
Â
In the bottom of the inning, Shady ran into trouble after a sac out and a groundout helped score Kaylee Zarick. A pair of singles followed and a wild pitch moved runners to second and third, but Shady managed to get out of the jam by getting Nicki Larro to ground out to third after she had hit a long foul ball and posted a 12-pitch at bat.
Â
In the 10
th inning, the Warriors ended a string of seven straight scoreless frames when freshman
Ashley Schoenstadt (Gap, Pa./Pequea Valley) reached on a fielding error that helped Moeller to score. The Knights (10-14 overall, 2-8 Commonwealth) got the run back in the bottom of the inning thanks to a sac bunt and a sac fly.
Â
Arcadia got on the board in the first inning as Sarah Gunia walked, stole second and took third on a wild pitch before scoring on a two-out single by Alicia McMahon. The Warriors responded in the top of the second, as Shady reached on a one-out error, took second on a ground out, took third on an error and scored on a two-out single by sophomore
Corrine Kline (Bethlehem, Pa./Freedom).
Â
The Knights left a runner stranded at third in the second, but after that, Shady retired 27 batters in a row before the 11
th inning singles. Even in the 10
th, she continued the streak, but the runner that started on second scored thanks to two sacrifices.
Â
The Warriors, likewise, only had two runners reach second after the second inning until the final two frames.
Â
Junior
Chelsey Poorman (Bellefonte, Pa./Bald Eagle Area), junior
Kristi Weaver (Milton, Pa./Milton Area) and Lapano each had two hits in the game to lead the Warriors.
Â
Shady (2-2) finished with 138 pitches over 11 innings, allowing three hits and one earned run. She struck out four and walked two. Laura Christine started for Arcadia, allowing seven hits and an unearned run in nine innings before Erin Wilson (4-7) came in. She took the loss, allowing three hits and one earned run in two innings.
Â
In the first game, Wilson tossed a two-hit shutout to lead the Knights to the 8-0 six-inning win.
Â
Arcadia scored three unearned runs in the first inning, using three hits and two errors to score the runs. They added two more runs in the third inning thanks to a two-RBI single by Samantha Quigley. In the sixth, the Knights capped off the win when Larro hit a one-out two-RBI triple to cap the three-run inning.
Â
Lapano and freshman
Heather Secord (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown Area) each had hits for the Warriors in the game, as Weaver's 12-game hitting streak came to an end when she went 0-for-2 with two flyouts. Alicia McMahon led the Knights, as she went 3-for-3 with two runs and Larro went 2-for-4 with a run and two RBI.
Â
Weaver (4-5) took the loss, allowing seven hits and two earned runs in three innings. She struck out four and walked one.
Â
The Warriors get back on the field on Monday, April 13, when they host Misericordia in a 3 p.m. doubleheader at the Shangraw Athletic Complex.
Â