APRIL 21, 2018

KING'S SOFTBALL SWEEPS EASTERN IN IMPORTANT MAC FREEDOM ROAD DOUBLEHEADER

ST. DAVIDS -- Megan Beaupre homered twice and the King's College softball team remained alive in the MAC Freedom Conference Tournament playoff race as the Monarchs registered a doubleheader sweep of host Eastern University Saturday in St. Davids.

King's won the first game 4-0 before taking the nightcap 11-0 in five innings. The sweep enabled the Monarchs to improve to 18-14 overall and 6-6 in league competition. Eastern slipped to 6-23 and 1-11 in conference games.

With just two games remaining in the regular-season and the top four teams receiving Freedom Conference Tournament berths, King's currently stands in fifth place, one game behind FDU-Florham.

In the opener, King's scored all four of its runs in the third inning. Samantha Bloom doubled and Lexi Wolk followed with a single. Beaupre then drilled a three-run home run to left-centerfield to get the Monarchs on the board. Mackenzie Yori then singled and later scored on an Eastern error for the final run of the game.

Bloom and Yori both went 2-for-4 while Beaupre finished 1-for-4, including her big three-run shot. 

Bloom was the winning pitcher for King's, tossing a three-hitter with one strikeout in the game. Bloom only allowed one Eastern player to reach as far as third base with no other runner advancing to second base.

In the nightcap, King's scored two in the first inning before erupting for five in the third inning. The Monarchs then tacked on one in the fourth and three more in the fifth to invoke the eight-run rule.

Bloom reached base on a one-out walk to start the game. Beaupre again went yard, bashing a home run in the third straight contest. Her second round-tripper of the day carried over the left field fence to also score Bloom.

Following a scoreless second, King's plated five runs in the third. Amber Saylor and Bloom drew back-to-back walks to start the inning before a bunt single from Lexi Wolk loaded the bases. Beaupre then followed with a RBI single before Kelcie Senchak delivered a two-run double to push the score to 5-0. Brittany McNair and Gabby Leary then added RBI singles to give King's a 7-0 lead.

After scoring an unearned run in the fourth when a sacrifice fly by Senchak brought home Wolk, King's added its final three runs in the fifth inning. McNair doubled and scored on a single from Ally Devoir. Saylor then tripled and scored on a throwing error for the final run of the game.

Wolk finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored while Beaupre was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBI. Senchak was 1-for-2 with three RBI while Saylor finished 2-for-3 with two runs and a RBI. McNair was also 2-for-3 with one run and one RBI.

Kristina Kocher picked up the pitching victory for King's, allowing three hits in five innings while striking out three batters.  Kocher allowed just to runners ti reach as far as second base in the game.

The Monarchs return to the field Monday with a 4:00 PM make-up game at the University of Scranton.