Jessup, Pa. – The University of Scranton moved back to .500 on the season with a pair of victories over visiting Keystone College in a non-conference softball doubleheader at the Jessup Youth Sports Complex. The Royals won the opener 5-1 before hanging on for a wild, 12-9 victory in the nightcap to move to 10-10 on the year while Giants slip to 7-15 overall after suffering their fifth and sixth setbacks in a row.
Game 1 Scranton took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning of Wednesday's opener on an RBI single by Shannon Stricker and the score remained that way until the home fourth when the Royals scored four runs on five hits to open up a five-run advantage. Stricker hit a solo home run before Marissa Ciriello hit a two-run single. Kaitlyn Brogan closed out the inning with an RBI base hit to give the hosts the 5-0 lead.
Keystone broke up Scranton's shutout bid with two outs in the seventh inning when
Antonette Scialpi (Hughestown, PA/Pittston Area) singled through the left side to drive in
Emily Long (Shamokin, PA/Our Lady of Lourdes Regional), but that was all the offense the Giants were able to muster in the game one setback.
Stricker led Scranton with two hits and two RBIs while Ciriello and Kaitlin O'Sullivan had two hits apiece for the Royals, who got three strikeouts from starting pitcher Morgan Rentzheimer, who allowed just two hits in five shutout innings. Emily Simon allowed one run on three hits in the final two innings in the circle.
Lindsey Bucklaw (Carbondale, PA/Carbondale Area) led the Giants with a pair of hits while Scialpi,
Sarah Stacey (Shickshinny, PA/Lake-Lehman) and
Shannon Dermont (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) added base hits for Keystone.
Alyssa Hughes (Sellersville, PA/Pennridge) suffered the loss after allowing five runs on nine hits in 3.2 innings before handing the ball off to
Emily Faulkner (Laceyville, PA/Wyalusing Valley), who allowed just one hit in the final 2.1 innings on the rubber.
Game 2 Scranton jumped out to a 4-0 lead over the first two innings of Wednesday nightcap, scoring a pair of runs in both innings. The Giants got on the board in the top of the third inning when Stacey singled in
Nicole Shay (Thompson, PA/Susquehanna Community), but the Royals got a three-run home run from Ciriello in the home half of the frame to build a 7-1 lead.
Scranton added a run in the bottom of the fourth inning before
Kimberly Rivera (New York, NY/South Bronx Campus) drove in Stacey and Long to cut the Giants' deficit to 8-3 in the fifth inning. Keystone then put up four runs on four hits and two errors in the visitor's sixth to cut the Royals' lead to one run, 8-7. Dermont scored on a wild pitch before
Samantha Monetti (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North) scored on an error on a ball hit by
Kaylee Hartman (Red Bank, NJ/Red Bank Regional). Rivera followed with a two-run single that plated Hartman and Stacey.
The hosts responded with four runs on three hits and on Keystone error in the bottom of the sixth to build a 12-7 advantage and the Royals hung on for the win despite a
Katie Thompson (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth Area) RBI single and a sacrifice fly from Stacey in the Giants' last at-bats.
Ciriello went 3-4 with six RBIs to power Scranton in the nightcap while Jenna Snyder added three hits and two RBIs. Jamie Hampsey picked up the win after allowing three runs on six hits in six innings before a pair of relievers preserved the win in the seventh inning.
Thompson, Stacey, Long, and Rivera had two hits apiece to lead Keystone in the nightcap with Rivera driving in four runs. Faulkner suffered the loss after being charged with seven runs on eight hits in 2.2 innings before turning the ball over to Hughes, who allowed five runs on six hits in 3.1 innings in the circle.
Up Next Keystone will make the short trip to Marywood University on Friday for a Colonial States Athletic Conference twinbill starting at 3:00 p.m. in Scranton.
