APRIL 23, 2016

KING'S SOFTBALL DROPS PAIR TO MISERICORDIA

WILKES-BARRE -- The King's College softball team dropped a pair of closely contested games to Misericordia University on Saturday. 

The Cougars won the first game 4-3 in eight innings before taking the nightcap 4-2. In the process, King's slipped to 19-15 overall and 7-5 in the Freedom Conference while Misericordia improved to 24-12 and 9-3. Despite the losses King's clinched a 17th straight Freedom Conference Tournament berth. KIng's stands in fourth place with the top four teams qualifying and owns a three=game lead over Eastern with just two games remaining in league play. 

In the opener King's took a 1-0 lead in the first when Brianna DiMaggio singled and later scored from third on an infield out by Amy Kowalczyk. The Monarchs upped the lead to 2-0 in the fourth when Kelcie Senchak blasted a solo home run well over the right field fence.

But Misericordia came back with a run in the sixth on a RBI single by Melissa Parker, then tied the game in the seventh with a run-scoring base hit form Melanie Quintanilla.  The cougars would then take a 3-2 lead in the eighth when Parker hit a two-run home run.

King's scored a run in the bottom of the eighth when DiMaggio singled and scored on a Rachael DeTore base hit. But the Monarchs were unable to bring in the tying run.  

Samantha Bloom was 3-for-3 while DiMaggio went 2-for-4 with two runs to pace King's. Senchak was the losing pitcher for King's, allowing four earned runs on eight hits and striking out eight batters.

Parker was 2-for-4 with three RBI for Misericordia.  Bailey Schies was the winning pitcher, yielding three runs on eight hits with two strikeouts.

In the nightcap Misericordia scored an unearned run in the first inning, then  added three runs in the fourth on a two-run single by Mackenzie Yurko and a RBI single by Quintanilla to push the score to 4-2.  

King's managed a run in the fifth when DeTore singled and scored on a double by Shelby Eby. The Monarchs plated their final run in the sixth when Bloom singled and later scored frommthird on an infield grounder from Kowalczyk.

King's managed just six hits in the game with Senchak leading the team with two base hits. Rachel Linso took the pitching loss for King's allowing four runs, two earned on eight hits while striking out three batters.

Yurko was 2-for-3 as the only multi-hit player for the Cougars. Alissa Steier was the winning pitcher, allowing two earned runs on six hits with two strikeouts.

King's will host Keystone Monday at 3:30 p.m.