MAY 7, 2010
KING'S SOFTBALL WINS TWO TO ADVANCE TO FREEDOM CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP
DOYLESTOWN – The King's College softball team put itself in position to defend its Freedom Conference title when the Lady Monarchs advanced to the championship round after going 2-0 on the first day of competition Friday at Delaware Valley College, Doylestown.
Live Stats for all games:
http://www.sidearmstats.com/delval/softball/index.htm
In its first game of the day, second-seeded King's outlasted third-seeded Manhattanville 1-0 in a 10-inning thriller. In the second matchup, the Lady Monarchs downed top-seeded DeSales 9-5 to move into Saturday's championship round. In the process, King's improved to 21-15 on the year.
In the opener, King's and Manhattanville (18-18-1) battled through a scoreless contest until the bottom of the 10th inning. Kayla Rutkoski led off the inning with a single to get the Lady Monarchs going. Rachel Zinni attempted a sacrifice bunt but was safe at first-base on an errant Valiant throw, giving the Lady Monarchs runners at first and second with nobody out. Meaghan Galvin then lofted a fly ball to centerfield, advancing Rutkoski to third base. The game would end when Tholen brought Rutkoski home with a ground ball to second base.
Lindsey Hoerner was the winning pitcher for King's, striking out 11 batters in 10 complete innings while allowing just six hits. The Lady Monarchs managed just six hits themselves with all six hits coming from six different players.
In King's second game against DeSales, the Lady Monarchs struck first in the third inning when Galvin singled and moved to second on a bunt by Gretchen Tholen. After Galvin moving to third-base on an infield out, Christie Parfitt delivered a RBI single to center to give King's a 1-0 lead.
In the top of the fourth inning for King's, Samantha Hornberger smacked a leadoff double and later scored on a DeSales error, allowing Kayla Rutksoki to reach base. After Galvin was hit by a pitch, Tholen reached base on a fielder's choice. Kaitlyn Seigfried then delivered a RBI single to score Rutkoski for a 3-0 lead. Hoerner then drilled a three-run home run down the right field line to give the Lady Monarchs a 6-0 lead.
King's added to the lead in the top of the fifth when Rutkoski reached base on a fielder's choice and Annie Erndl smacked a two-run home run over the centerfield fence to give the Lady Monarchs a 8-0 lead.
After DeSales (23-18) scored a run in the bottom half of the fifth, King's added a run in the sixth when Gretchen Tholen singled and later scored from third on a RBI single to give the Lady Monarchs a 9-1 advantage.
The Bulldogs attempted to rally with four runs in the sixth to cut the led to 9-5. But in the bottom of the seventh, Hoerner, pitching in relief of Erndl, struck out the side to preserve the victory.
King's had 12 hits in the game, led by Parfitt who was 2-for-4 with two RBI, Siegfried, who went 2-for-3 with a RBI, and Hornberger, who finished 2-for-3 with a run scored. Hoerner was 1-for-3 with three RBI while Tholen contributed by going 1-for-3 with two runs scored.
King's will now await the survivor of Saturday's loser's bracket in the double-elimination event. Manhattanville will meet Misericordia at 9:00 a.m. with the winner playing DeSales at 11:00 a.m. The survivor will then square off with King's in the championship round at 1:00 p.m. Should the Lady Monarchs lose, the teams will play again at 3:00 p.m. to determine the Freedom Conference champion.
