La Plume, Pa. - Gwynedd Mercy University swept a Colonial States Athletic Conference softball doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Edmunds Field from host Keystone College in the league opener for both teams. The Griffins (11-5, 2-0 CSAC) held on to edge the Giants (5-9, 0-2 CSAC) 9-8 in the first game before pulling away with a 16-2, five-inning victory in the nightcap.
Game 1 Gwynedd Mercy jumped out to a 4-0 advantage in the first at-bats of Saturday's opener, getting a two-run home run from Jessica Behr followed by an RBI double and an RBI single. Keystone cut their deficit in half in the bottom part of the inning on a two-run double to centerfield off the bat of
Lindsey Bucklaw (Carbondale, PA/Carbondale Area).
The Griffins got those two runs back in the visitor's second to claim a 6-2 lead before Bucklaw delivered a three-run home run in the bottom of the third inning to make it a 6-5 ballgame. Gwynedd Mercy countered with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to open up an 8-5 advantage before
Antonette Scialpi (Hughestown, PA/Pittston Area) hit an RBI double in the home fifth and
Emily Long (Shamokin, PA/Our Lady of Lourdes Regional) added an RBI base hit in the sixth inning to bring Keystone to within a run, 8-7.
Kim Machalette gave the visitor's an all-important insurance run in the top of the seventh with a solo home run. Trailing 9-7 in the bottom of the seventh inning,
Breelyn Johnson-Fite (Bogota, NJ/Bergen County Technical) scored when
Kaylee Hartman (Red Bank, NJ/Red Bank Regional) was thrown out stealing, but that would be the final run of the game as the Giants' comeback bid came up just short.
Alyssa Morales tossed a complete game with two strikeouts to pick up the win for the Griffins, who were paced offensively by three hits apiece from Machalette and Beckie Christoffers.
Alyssa Hughes (Sellersville, PA/Pennridge) suffered the loss for the Giants after being charged with seven runs on eight hits to go along with a pair of K's in 3.1 innings in the circle.
Emily Faulkner (Laceyville, PA/Wyalusing Valley) was charged with two runs on three hits while fanning a pair of hitters in the final 3.2 innings.
Long went 3-4 while Bucklaw, Johnson-Fite, and
Sarah Stacey (Shickshinny, PA/Lake-Lehman) had two hits apiece for the Giants, who held a 13-11 edge in hits for the game. Bucklaw led all players with five RBIs in the opener.
Game 2 Gwynedd Mercy jumped on the Giants early and often in the game two victory, scoring three runs on three hits and one error in the first inning, adding four runs on five hits in the second inning, and tallying nine runs on seven hits and two errors in the third inning to build a 16-run lead.
Keystone got a pair of runs back in the bottom of the third inning as Long drove in
Katie Thompson (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth Area) with an RBI single before Bucklaw drove in her sixth run of the day with a base hit that plated long, but that would mark the end of the scoring for either team as the Griffins posted the run-rule victory in five innings.
Machelette picked up the win after allowing two runs on eight hits in a complete game performance for Gwynedd Mercy, who got four hits from Tara Matteo and three from Christoffers.
Faulkner took the loss after yielding seven runs on eight hits to go along with two strikeouts in two innings of work before being relieved by Hughes, who gave up nine runs on nine hits while adding another K to her day in three innings.
Thompason paced the Giants with a pair of hits in the game two setback.
Up Next Keystone will travel to Cairn University on Tuesday afternoon for a CSAC doubleheader starting at 3:00 p.m. in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. The Giants' conference matchup at Immaculata University, which was previously rescheduled for Sunday, has been postponed again with make-up date yet to be determined.
