Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score

SELINSGROVE, Pa. – For the first time since joining the Landmark Conference, the Susquehanna softball team earned a regular season sweep of Landmark Conference foe Moravian with 4-3, 8-7 wins on Saturday afternoon.

Game one was a walk-off victory for SU (7-7, 2-0) while game two came down to pitching as Morgan Lewis (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock North) entered in relief in the top of the seventh to end Moravian's rally and preserve an 8-7 win.

In the game one victory, Sam LaCoe (Clarks Summit, Pa./Abington Heights) came up with the game-winning hit, a double to right center that plated the game-winning run in Alyssa Cantalini (Kitchener, Ontario/St. David Catholic Secondary). Cantalini finished the game 3-for-4 with one run and one RBI while LaCoe's only hit in the game came in the form of that game winner.

Lewis pitched the first 6.1 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits, before Jamie Fesinstine (Long Valley, N.J./West Morris Central) entered with one out in the seventh and the game tied at three. Fesinstine got two quick outs to keep the game tied before LaCoe's big hit in the bottom of the inning.

The Crusaders struck first in the game when Cantalini's double to right field allowed Brianna Murphy (Hazlet, N.J./Mater Dei Prep) to score after she had led off the inning with a single.

The Greyhounds, however, got that run back by scoring one of their own in the top of the second and then added another solo run in the third to go up 2-1.

It remained 2-1 until the bottom of the fourth when Stephanie Chlebove (Northampton, Pa./Northampton Area) came to the plate with two runners on and two outs and drove a two-run single to right field to give SU a 3-2 lead.

Lewis remained in the game in the seventh but put two of the first three batters on base and then gave up a game-tying hit to Miranda Sergas. Fesinstine then entered in relief of Morgan and got two quick outs giving her team three more outs to complete a comeback.

The Crusaders did just that when Cantalini knocked a one-out single to center and LaCoe drove her home to win the game.

Game two was just as nail-biting as the first. The Crusaders led by four runs (8-4) heading into the seventh inning but the Greyhounds were able to break through for three runs in the seventh before Lewis relieved Fesinstine, the starting pitcher, and shut the door on Moravian.

Chlebove had two hits, one run and one RBI while Bridget Rafter (Highlands, N.J./Henry Hudson Regional) went 2-for -3 with three RBI and one run scored. LaCoe had one hit and scored three of SU's runs.

Moravian opened the game with a two-run first inning but Susquehanna responded by plating four runs in its half of the first. Rafter came up with the big hit in the inning, a two-run double to left center that broke a 2-2 tie to make it 4-2.

SU added two more runs in the third inning with Rafter driving in one and Amanda Neveroski's (Toms River, N.J./Toms River North) single to left sending home the other for a 6-2 ballgame.

Moravian got to Fesinstine for two runs in the fifth but SU added solo runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to take an 8-4 lead into the top of the seventh.

Fesinstine ran into trouble, though, putting the first three batters on base. She only gave up one hit but walked three batters and with one out, Lewis entered the game. Lewis got one quick out before walking another batter for Moravian's third run of the inning before getting Taylor Mihalik to fly out and end the game.

The Crusaders return to action on Sunday, March 23 with a doubleheader at No. 3 Montclair State beginning at 1 p.m.