ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Cedar Crest College softball team took a pair of games from Keystone College on Wednesday afternoon at Cynthia L. Blaschak Field in Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) action. The Falcons captured game one in a 12-8 final before walking off with the nightcap, 8-7.
Game One – Cedar Crest 12, Keystone 8
The Giants pushed one run across in the opening frame to snag the early advantage. Senior Jordan Frye (Cheltenham, Pa.) singled in junior Brooke Staple (Carbondale, Pa.) to make the score 1-0.
Cedar Crest tallied three in the home half of the first to take the lead. Graduate student
Ashley Heller (Allentown, Pa./Parkland) started the scoring when she crossed home on a throwing error. Senior
Brianna Lankford (Hanover, Pa./South Western Senior) then connected on a base-hit to right field, which helped bring around sophomore
Alex Mullen (Prospect Park, Pa./Interboro). On the next play, Lankford stole second, which in turn allowed classmate
Renee Snyder (Allentown, Pa./Parkland) to touch home for the 3-1 score.
Keystone jumped back in front with three runs in the second. Senior Isabella Mandarano (Dunmore) singled to center field to plate first-year Isabella Benitez (East Windsor, N.J.). After a steal and a walk, sophomore Mara Brooks (Manassas, Va.) hit a base hit down the left field line to bring around Mandarano. The scoring concluded when senior Alyssa Booth (Holland, Pa.) crossed home on a fielding error to make it 4-3.
The Falcons tied the contest in the third when Snyder delivered a single, which plated classmate
Reilly Mateljan (Friedens, Pa./Somerset Area) to make it a 4-4 game.
The advantage swung back in favor of the Giants when they pushed one run across in the fourth as Booth singled up the middle to bring around junior Kabrina Birmingham (Burlington, N.J.), giving Keystone the 5-4 lead.
Cedar Crest would go onto score five runs over the next two frames to build a 9-5 lead. Sophomore
Alexis Kline (Allentown, Pa./Lehigh Valley Academy Regional Charter) reached first on an error by the pitcher and the miscue in the field allowed graduate student
Delaney VanBuskirk (Bridgeville, Del./Woodbridge) and first-year
Natalie Hasert (Vernon, N.J./Vernon Township) to cross home. The last run of the inning came after first-year
Laney Ferraro (Philadelphia, Pa./New Foundations Charter) hit a sacrifice fly to right field, which was deep enough to bring home Mateljan for the 7-5 score.
The Falcons added a pair in the fifth. Hasert singled in Mullen while VanBuskirk delivered a sacrifice fly to left to bring around Snyder.
The teams combined for five runs in the sixth. The Giants got both of its runs on a two-run double to left field from junior Elle Olivero (Levittown, Pa.), scoring Frye and Staple, cutting the deficit to two, 9-7.
Cedar Crest then tacked on three in the home half of the sixth. Kline scored on a fielder's choice while Hasert connected on a two-run double to center field, plating Snyder and Mullen for the 12-7 lead.
Keystone registered one tally in the seventh, but it was the Falcons who would come out victorious, 12-8.
Junior
Corinne Mundy (Philadelphia, Pa./The Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush) tossed a complete-game victory for the Falcons in the circle. She gave up eight runs (four earned) on 12 hits while striking out four and walking a pair. First-year Clare Johns (Skippack, N.J.) took the loss for the Giants, surrendering 12 runs (eight earned) on 15 hits. She fanned four and walked two in the setback.
Hasert paced Cedar Crest at the dish, finishing 4-for-5 with three RBI and a run scored. Snyder went 3-for-5 with an RBI and three runs scored. VanBuskirk and Mateljan each concluded the opener with two-hit efforts.
Staple led Keystone, going 3-for-5 with two runs scored.
Game Two – Cedar Crest 8, Keystone 7
Keystone jumped out to the early advantage in game one, tallying three runs in the first inning. Booth scored on a fielder's choice, Olivero drove in A. Morley with a sacrifice fly to center field, while Staple would later cross home for the 3-0 score.
After the Giants added a single run in the third, the Falcons began to chip away at the deficit with three in the home half to make it a 4-3 game. Kline crossed home on a fielding error, Heller scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Hasert while Mullen made it 4-3 when she scored on a wild pitch.
Keystone struck for three in the fourth to extend its lead to 7-3.
Cedar Crest pushed a run across in each of the fifth and sixth innings. Mullen singled to third base to score Heller while Ferraro recorded a base-hit through the left side to bring home Mateljan to cut the margin to two, 7-5, heading into the final frame of regulation.
In the bottom of the seventh, Mateljan drew a bases-loaded walk to plate Mullen. With the score 7-6 and runners on second and third, Kline delivered the walk-off, two-run single up the middle to bring home VanBuskirk and Hasert for the game-tying and winning runs, 8-7.
Mundy picked up her second victory on the day in the circle. She struck out two and walked one in the complete-game triumph. Junior Courtney Cienki (West Milford, N.J.) recorded five strikeouts and four walks in the loss for the Giants.
Mullen guided the Falcons in the nightcap with a 3-for-4 performance with an RBI and two runs scored. Kline joined in with a 3-for-4 game with two RBI and a run scored. Heller was the final Cedar Crest student-athlete with multiple hits, concluding the contest 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
Cedar Crest (7-11 overall, 4-0 CSAC) begins a four-game road trip on Saturday, April 8 at Saint Elizabeth University in a twinbill beginning at 1:00 p.m. Keystone (2-12 overall, 1-3 CSAC) will host the University of Valley Forge in its home opener on Tuesday, April 11 beginning at 3:00 p.m.
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