Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – The Susquehanna softball team picked up two more wins on Sunday with a doubleheader road sweep of DeSales.
The Crusaders edged the Bulldogs 4-3 in game before exploding for 14 runs en route to a decisive 14-2, five-inning game two victory. SU has now won six games in a row.
In the opener, Morgan Lewis (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock North) went the full seven innings, giving up three runs on eight hits with eight strikeouts and just two walks.
Alyssa Cantalini (Kitchener, Ontario/St. David Catholic Secondary) went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBI. Bridget Rafter (Highlands, N.J./Henry Hudson Regional) also drove in two runs on two hits.
The game was scoreless through three until Cantalini knocked a solo shot over the center field fence for a 1-0 game.
DeSales tied in the bottom of that inning before the Crusaders added two runs in the top of the sixth. Cantalini's single plated the first run and Rafter followed with a two-run double to left center to put SU up 4-1.
The Bulldogs threatened in the bottom of the seventh when Michelle Gessner doubled down the left field line to drive home two runs and pull her team within two (4-3). Gessner advanced to third on an infield single but Lewis got D.J. McCauley to foul out to first.
Game two was a completely different story as the Crusaders pounded out 14 runs on 10 hits. Leadoff hitter Brianna Murphy (Hazlet, N.J./Mater Dei Prep) racked up three hits, one RBI and three runs scored while Lauren Creamer (Langhorne, Pa./Neshaminy) drove in three runs on three hits. Amanda Neveroski (Toms River, N.J./Toms River North) had three RBI on one hit while scoring twice.
Starter Jamie Fesinstine (Long Valley, N.J./West Morris Central) pitched the first four innings, giving up one run on just two hits and Jessica Juhlin (Ramsey, N.J./Ramsey) tossed the final inning, surrendering one run on three hits.
The first inning provided more than enough run support for Fesinstine as Susquehanna pounded out five hits and scored 11 runs. Creamer drove in the first two runs on a single to right center while Emilie Boman (Tinton Falls, N.J./Mater Dei Prep), Kelly Miller (Kendall Park, N.J./South Brunswick) and Murphy all drew bases loaded walks. Neveroski's two-out single sent home three more runs and Cantalini and Creamer drove in the 10th and 11th runs of the inning with RBI hits.
A wild pitch allowed DeSales to get on the board in the bottom of the second but Brynn Musser's (Selinsgrove, Pa./Selinsgrove Area) two-run homer in the top of the third made it a 13-1 Crusader lead.
In the top of the fourth, Anna Heggenstaller (Liverpool, Pa./Greenwood) drove in what was SU's final run of the game with a single to left field that scored Murphy.
DeSales got to Julin for one run in the seventh but she got Shannon McCann to fly out to center to end the game.
Susquehanna returns home to host Dickinson on April 21 in a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m.
