The Lancaster Bible women's softball team snapped their five game losing streak with a win over Wilson yesterday. The joys of a winning streak are going to go on for another day as the Chargers took both games from the Bison of Gallaudet University to run their winning streak to three games. The Chargers won game one in extra innings 2-1, and won game two 8-5. With the wins today the Chargers move to 13-14 overall and 4-6 in conference play, while the Bison drop to 7-9 overall and 1-7 in conference play.
Game 1
Lancaster Bible 2, Gallaudet 1 (8 inn.)
How it Happened: Pitching was the key factor in game one as both teams had strong outings from their starters.
Kelsey Collins was a force on the mound for the Chargers today as she was pounding the zone and forcing the Bison into outs as they could not produce a run. The Chargers had their chance to push the first run across the plate in the third inning as they had the bases loaded, but the heart of the order was not able to push a run across, as it stayed tied at zero. The Chargers would have another chance in the bottom of the fourth to push a run across after a sacrifice bunt by
Morgan Burkholder moving
Ali Morton to second, but just as the inning before the timely hitting just was not there for the Chargers. Each team would continue to battle through the next three innings but neither would give in and give up a run, so extra innings were going to be a do or die time for the teams.
With a runner starting on second and nobody out, the Bison were able to bunt their runner to third and move her 60 feet away from scoring the games first run. The Bison had a prime opportunity to take the lead on a swinging bunt, but the Chargers were all over it as
Courtney Koser threw the ball to
Samantha Denson to get the runner out at home. After a few unfortunate errors on the Chargers the Bison were able to push a run across, and it was now up to the Chargers in the bottom half of the inning to either tie or win the game. The Chargers had a runner on second to start the inning as well, and after
Richelle Kane reached on an error the Chargers were in prime spot to win the game with runners on second and third with no one out.
Julia D'Arrigo stepped up to the plate and absolutely crused a ball over the left fielders head to score both the runners and give the Chargers a key game one victory.
Inside the Box Score: The Chargers only had three hits with D'Arrigo, Kane, and Ort each having one...Collins was spectacular today as she limited the Bison to just the one run on four hits, while striking out six...With the win Collins gets her sixth victory of the season...The Bison were led by Katherine Fetzer in as she had one hit and pitched seven good innings.
Game 2
Lancaster Bible 8, Gallaudet 5
How it Happened: Pitching might have been the key factor in game one but game two was a different story as the bats came alive for both teams. The Chargers rushed out to an early lead as
Julia D'Arrigo started the game off with a single, and then stole second, but was able to advance to third on the throw. With
Zoie Senn up to bat she made sure that the Chargers were not going to have to wait until extra innings to get a run, as she hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score D'Arrigo and give the Chargers a one run lead. Gallaudet was able to put a little scare into the Chargers in the top half of the second inning as they were able to put runners on second and third, but after a sharp lineout to
Kelsey Collins and tag by Collins on the runner at third the threat was over and the Chargers lead was in tack. After that slight scare the Chargers wanted a little more cushion and they definitely gave themselves that in the bottom half of the inning.
Morgan Burkholder started off the inning with a single and after two quick outs it looked as though the Chargers would not get any runs, but an error that allowed Kane to reach gave the Chargers new life. D'Arrigo took advantage of her at-bat as she smacked a double to score both runs, but that was not all as the Chargers added one more run thanks to a single from Koser to give the Chargers a four run lead.
Each team would have an easy inning in the third, but the Bison found some life in the fourth as they were able to score two runs to cut the lead in half. The Chargers were once again led byD'Arrigo and Koser. D'Arrigo was able to lead off the inning with a double, after a walk by Senn and passed ball that allowed both to move up it was Koser who delivered a single to give the Chargers one of the runs back that they lost in the top of the inning.The Chargers would hold onto their three run lead until the top of the sixth as the Bison made it interesting. Adele Fass and Anna Lynch were both able to reach for the Bison with no one out and just like that the Bison had something brewing. After two errors on the Chargers that allowed the Bison to tie the game it was now time for the Chargers to answer. The Chargers would do just that as Senn would reached on a single with Koser next to bat. Koser stepped up to bat and crushed a no doubter over the fence that gave her team life and the Chargers a lead again. The Chargers would score one more run that inning with Denson picking up an RBI. D'Arrigo knew what this game meant to the Chargers and shut the Bison down to give the Chargers a key 8-5 win.
Inside the Box Score: Koser went out on a high note on senior day as she went a perfect 4-for-4 with four RBI's...D'Arrigo was not far behind as she went 3-for-4 and scored three runs...D'Arrigo was able to pick up her sixth win of the season...Kelsey Hudson had two hits and an RBI for the Bison.
Extra Bases: With the two wins today the Chargers move their all-time series record against the Bison to 7-3...The Chargers will face off against the Bison two more times on the last day of the season in Washington, D.C.
Up Next: Lancaster Bible will travel to Morristown, N.J. on Monday to take on St. Elizabeth at 3 and 5 p.m.
