KING'S STUNNED BY DEL-VAL IN FREEDOM OPENER, 5-4 IN 14 INNINGS
EDWARDSVILLE -- Brittany Stockert smacked a grand slam home run in the seventh inning to send the game to extra innings, then registered the game-winning RBI in the 14th as third-seeded Delaware Valley stunned second-seeded King's College 5-4 in the first-round of the Freedom Conference Tournament Friday at the Wilkes University Ralston Complex.
With the loss, King's will now face FDU-Florham, a 3-2 loser to DeSales, in an elimination game Saturday at 9:00 a.m.
King's appeared to be well on its way to advancing as the Lady Monarchs built a 4-0 lead heading into the seventh inning. Lindsey Hoerner gave King's a 1-0 lead in the second when she was hit by a itch and later scored on a wild itch. Hoerner then drilled a three-run home run in the sixth to bring home Abbey Knoblauch and and Annie Drimones who had singled and walked respectively.
Meanwhile King's pitcher Kelsey Shreaves was tossing a perfect game heading into the seventh. After retiring leadoff hitter Kim Harle to register the 19th consecutive putout of the game, The Aggies loaded the bases, and with two down, Stockert hit a line drive that just cleared the left field fence to send the game into extra innings.
King's missed out on a golden opportunity to end the game in the 11th when Lauren DeCreny singled and moved to third base on a base hit by Loring. With one out, Meaghan Galvin smacked a line drive to centerfield, but pinch runner Julie Bidwell took several steps off third base and came back to tag up where she would have easily scored the winning run had she not left the base. Bidwell was held up at that point and Shreaves flied out to right field to end the inning.
In the 14th Nicole Dorney singled and later scored on a base hit to centerfield by Stockert to give the Aggies a 5-4 lead.
King's attempted to rally when Knoblauch drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a bunt by Drimones. But Leanne Harvey would ground out on a bunt and Hoerner popped out to second base to end the game.
Loring topped King's 14-hit attack by going 3-for-6 while Knoblauch was 2-for-5. DeCreny went 2-for-6. Shreaves was the hard-luck loser in the circle, pitching all 14 innings, allowing five earned runs on 10 hits while striking out four batters.
Should King's defeat FDU, the Lady Monarchs will then face Delaware Valley again at 11:00 a.m. The Aggies dropped their semi-final game to DeSales by a 2-0 count to also fall into the playback bracket. The championship game will take place at 1:00 p.m. while a second title game will be held at 3:00 p.m. if necessary as the survivor of the elimination games must defeat DeSales in two straight games to win the Freedom crown..
