APRIL 21, 2011
KING'S SOFTBALL PICKS UP CRITICAL FREEDOM CONFERENCE SWEEP OF DESALES
CENTER VALLEY -- With the final week of the regular-season lying ahead, the King's College softball team took a big step to earning a post-season berth as the Lady Monarchs went on the road to sweep host and fellow contender DeSales University in a critical conference doubleheader Thursday in Center Valley.
King's won the first game 4-3, then captured the nightcap 8-2. With the sweep, King's improved to 12-9 overall and 7-4 in Freedom Conference games. DeSales, meanwhile, slipped to 16-10 and 7-5.
In the opener, DeSales broke open a 0-0 game with two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. King's answered with two runs of their own in the fifth inning when Erin Beane doubled and scored on a RBI single from Jenn Harnischfeger. After a Rachel Zinni base hit moved Harnischfeger to second, Amanda Cardone drilled a RBI double to right field to knot the score at 2-2.
After DeSales added a run in the sixth to take a 3-2 lead, the Lady Monarchs answered in the top half of the seventh inning. Harnischfeger reached base on a fielder's choice and promptly stole second base. Zinni then singled and Cardone came through again with a base hit to bring home Harnischfeger to tie the game at 3-3. Kayla Rutkoski then delivered a single up the middle to plate Zinni with what proved to be the winning run.
Cardone went 4-for-4 with two RBI in the opener while Beane and Zinni followed with two hits each. Harnischfeger chipped in with two runs and a RBI. Freshman Brittany Haight (7-3) picked up the win, scattering seven hits in seven complete innings.
In the second game King's surrendered a first inning run but came back to score a pair in the third inning when Kaitlin Siegfried singled and scored on a triple by Harnischfeger. Cardone then stroked a RBI single to left field to give King's a 2-1 lead.
After DeSales tied the score at 2-2 with a run in the bottom half of the frame, the score remained the same until the sixth inning. From there, the Lady Monarchs put the game away by exploding for six runs.
Siegfried and Annie Erndl led off the inning with back-to-back walks before Harnischfeger drilled a three-run home run to give King's a 5-2 lead. After Cardone singled and Brittny Baynes drew a walk, Rebecca Taylor then delivered King's second three-run home run of the inning to push the score to 8-2.
Erndl then retired six of the final seven DeSales batters to give King's the victory.
Harnischfeger went 2-for-4 with two runs and four RBI while Cardone was 2-for-3 with one run and one RBI. Taylor was 1-for-4 with three RBI while Siegfried scored a pair of runs.
Erndl evened her pitching record to 5-5, allowing two runs, one which was earned, on 10 hits and struck out eight batters.
King's will be idle for Easter break until Monday when the Lady Monarchs host an important Freedom Conference make-up game against Eastern University at 4:00 p.m.
Eastern won the first game of a doubleheader nearly two weeks ago but the second game was rained out in the first inning. According to MAC rules, the game will be replayed from the beginning
