MAY 1, 2009
KING'S SOFTBALL ADVANCES TO FREEDOM CONFERENCE TITLE GAME WITH WINS OVER MISERICORDIA AND DESALES
View LiveStats of all games at the following link:
http://www.sidearmstats.com/wilkes/softball/
EDWARDSVILLE – The King's College softball team advanced to the championship game of the Freedom Conference Championship after winning its first two contests on Friday at Wilkes University. King's defeated top-seeded Misericordia 7-5 in its first game, then registered a 6-4 win over second-seeded DeSales. The victories enabled the Lady Monarchs to improve to 23-12 on the year.
King's advances to the championship game to be played Saturday at 1:00 p.m. After going 2-0 the first day in the double-elimination tournament, King's must lose twice on Saturday while having to only win once.
In the first game, Misericordia opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning when Courtney Novajosky hit a single through the left side. Lindsay Miller laid down a bunt to advance Novajosky who later scored on a double by Hollie Sarnak giving Misericordia a 1-0 lead.
King's would reach the scoreboard in the third inning when Katie Fry led off by reaching base on an error. Abbey Knoblauch followed with a single through the left side to give the Lady Monarchs runners at first and second. Meaghan Galvin would lay down a sacrifice bunt, but a throwing error on the play allowed Fry score and Knoblauch to move to third. The Lady Monarchs would push in another run when Knoblauch would score on a passed ball as King's took a 2-1 lead. Lindsey Hoerner then beat out an infield single to third base to drive in Galvin to extend the lead to 3-1.
Knoblauch would lead off the top of the fifth inning off with a double down the left field line and would advance to third on a fly to right field by Galvin. DeCreny would give the Lady Monarchs the 4-1 lead with a an infield single to bring home Knoblauch.
Misericordia fought back with back-to-back home runs by Sarnak and Nicole Wenner to cut the King's lead to 4-3. But Hoerner retired the next three batters to get out of the inning.
In the top of the seventh, King's loaded the bases when Becky Loring reached base on a fielder's choice and Hoerner and Christie Parfitt both reached base on singles. Tholen, who was hitless in her first two-at-bats, came through with a crucial double to left-center, driving in all three runners to up the King's advantage to 7-3.
The hit proved to be the difference as Misericordia's Katherine Lucenti hit a one-out double and Novajosky delivered a home run to left center field to cut the lead to 7-5. After a infield out. Sarnak would keep the inning alive with a two-out walk, but Hoerner struck out Nicole Wenner struck out to give King's the 7-5 win.
Knoblauch led King's by going 3-for-4 with two runs while Hoerner and Parfitt were both 2-for-4. Hoerner was the winning pitcher, allowing five runs on eight hits while striking out eight batters.
Novajosky led Misericordia (24-13) with a 2-for-4 showing with a home run and two runs scored while Sarnak was 2-for-3 with two RBI and a home run. Lucenti, who was 2-for-3 at the plate, took the pitching loss by allowing 12 hits and seven runs, four earned, with four strikeouts.
In the second game against DeSales, King's opened the scoring in the top of the first inning when Meghan Galvin slapped a one-out single, moved to second on an error, and later third on a passed ball. After Lauren DeCreny drew a walk, Galvin scored on an RBI ground out by Becky Loring to give King's a 1-0 lead.
In the second inning, Katie Fry drew a one-out walk. Sue Roccia would reach base on a bunt single as Fry moved to third on a subsequent throwing error on the play. Shawna Walp would then tap a soft grounder back to the pitcher, catching Fry in a run-down between third base and home. Fry would eventually score when the throw home was dropped at the plate by a DeSales defender, giving King's a 2-0 lead.
In the third inning Loring stroked a one-out double to right field, and then moved to third on a single up the middle by Parfitt. Tholen then ripped a double down the right field line to drive in two runs and give King's a 4-1 lead.
In the fourth inning, King's looked to pad the lead when Galvin stroked a one-out double to right center. DeCreny stepped to the plate and delivered a big two-run home run over the left field fence as the Lady Monarch lead grew to 6-1.
Tholen finished 3-for-3 with two RBI while Galvin was 3-for-4 with two runs scored. DeCreny was 1-for-3 with a two-run home run while Loring finished 1-for-4 with an RBI. King's starter Walp picked up the pitching victory, allowing four runs, three earned, on seven hits in four innings of work. Hoerner picked up the save, yielding just one hit in three shutout innings.
DeSales (24-14) was led by Pfitzenmayer with two base hits. Lococo was the losing pitcher, allowing four runs in two and one-third innings.
Saturday's schedule is as follows:
Game 4: #1 Misericordia vs. #3 Delaware Valley, 9:00 am - loser is eliminated
Game 5: #2 DeSales vs. Game 4 winner, 11:00 am - loser is eliminated
Game 6: #4 King's vs. Game 5 winner, 1:00 p.m. - Championship Game 1*
Game 7: Same teams if neccesary, 3:00 p.m.
Note: As the only 2-0 team, must win only once on Saturday, while its opponent must defeat King's twice to win the championship.
