MAY 6, 2011
WILKES-BARRE – The King's College softball team positioned itself for an opportunity to win a third straight league championship as the third-seeded and host Lady Monarchs posted a 4-2 victory over top-seeded DeSales University in game-three of the Freedom Conference Championships Friday at the Robert L. Betzler Athletic Complex.
With the win, King's improved to 17-11 on the year while DeSales slipped to 22-12. In the process, King's moves on to Saturday's Freedom Conference championship game, while DeSales will now look to battle back through the loser's bracket.
In the third and the game locked in a scoreless tie, King's
Gretchen Tholen was hit by a pitch to start the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by
Annie Erndl.
Jenn Harnischfeger then smacked a RBI triple to right field to give the Lady Monarchs a 1-0 lead. King's built a 2-0 advantage when Harnischfeger scored on a suicide squeeze following a bunt from
Erin Beane.
In the bottom half of the inning DeSales attempted to counter when Kate Steiner drew a one-out walk, and then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kristin Schultz. The inning ended, however, when Lococo grounded out to third.
In the top of the fourth inning,
Rebecca Taylor drew a leadoff walk for King's, then moved to second on a wild pitch. After a walk to
Kayla Rutkoski, both runners advanced on another wild pitch. Another walk to Kaitlyn Siegfried then loaded the base with none out in the inning. The score grew to 3-0 when Taylor scores from third-base on the third wild pitch of the inning.
In the top of the fifth, King's took a 4-0 lead when
Amanda Cardone smacked a solo home run, her second round-tripper of the day, over the left field fence. She homered in King's opening game victory against FD-Florham.
In the DeSales half of the fifth, Courtney McKenna led off with a single and Laura Pironi reached base on an error. After Brianna Chilcoat grounded into a fielder's choice to third base for the first out, Kate Steiner popped up to second-base for the second out of the inning. King's then avoided a potentially disastrous inning when Kristin Schultz grounded out to end the Bulldog's best chance of the game to date.
The Bulldogs threatened again in the sixth inning when Christine Petrilla singled with one out. Casey Wagman then doubled to advance Petrilla to third. Julie Brugger then lofted a sacrifice fly to bring home Petrilla with DeSales first run of the game. McKenna then drilled a RBI double to left center to cut the score to 4-2. Freshman hurler
Brittany Haight would enter the game and picked up the final out of the inning to preserve the Lady Monarch lead
After King's failed to score in the top of the seventh inning, DeSales came to bat for its last chance. Haight, however, came through big by retiring DeSales in order as the Lady Monarchs held on for the victory.
King's posted just five hits in the victory, as Harsnischfeger, Cardone, Baynes, Rutkoski, and Tholen had one hit apiece. King's starting pitcher
Annie Erndl was the winning pitcher, allowing two earned runs on six hits with one strikeout. Haight picked up the save by retiring all four batters she faced in one and one-third innings.
For DeSales, which managed six hits, McKenna was 3-for-3. Lococo, Petrilla, and Wagaman added one hit apiece.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Friday, May 6, 2011
Game 1: #1 DeSales def. #4 Manhattanville, 7-1
Game 2: #3 King's def. #2 FDU-Florham, 2-1
Game 3: #3 King's def. #1 DeSales, 4-2
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Game 4: #4 Manhattanville vs. #2 FDU-Florham, 9:00 a.m. (Loser eliminated)
Game 5: #1 DeSales vs. Winner Game 4, 11:00 a.m. (Loser eliminated)
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Freedom Conference Championship
Game 6: #3 King's vs. Winner Game 5, 1:00 p.m.
Game 7: Same Teams as Game 6 if necessary, 3:00 p.m.*
*Note: Game 5 winner must beat Game 3 winner twice
