WILKES-BARRE,PA (April 16, 2026)—The King's College softball team suffered a pair of losses in MAC Freedom action on Thursday afternoon to Lebanon Valley College at Betzler Field. The Monarchs lost the first game by a score of 10-1 in five innings before dropping the second by a score of 4-0, falling to 11-21 overall and 3-7 in conference play while the Dutchmen improve to 19-13 overall and 8-2 in conference play.

Game 1: L, 10-1 (5 inn.)
King's opened the scoring in the first after Elise Larson worked a leadoff walk, advanced on a sacrifice bunt from Breanna Goldspiel and moved to third on a passed ball. Ellie Higdon drove in the opening run of the contest on a single to left to take a 1-0 lead.

Lebanon Valley responded with three runs in the second, using a walk, two singles, and back‑to‑back errors to move in front 3-1. The Dutchmen added another in the third on a double to center and pushed the lead to 5-1 in the fourth when a double down the left‑field line paired with a throwing error brought in a run.

The fifth inning broke the game open as Lebanon Valley scored five times on four hits, two sacrifice flies, and a walk to extend the margin to 10-1. The Monarchs were unable to cut into the deficit as the Dutchmen closed out the opener in the fifth inning.

Larson doubled and scored the lone run for King's, while Higdon and Meghan Marianelli each added a hit in game one.

Game 2: L, 4-0
Lebanon Valley struck early in the first, opening the game with a triple to left‑center before an RBI single brought in the first run of the nightcap. A throwing error allowed the runner to advance to third, and another single through the left side made it 2-0 in favor of LVC.

King's put a runner aboard in the bottom half when Elise Larson singled up the middle and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, but the Dutchmen were able to escape the jam with a pop-up and a flyout.

Lebanon Valley threatened in the second and third but King's defense held, including Higdon throwing out a stealing runner at second. The Dutchmen added to their lead in the sixth with a solo homer to left, pushing the margin to 3-0. Another run came across in the seventh after a triple to left‑center and a bunt single.

King's brought the tying run to the on deck circle in the seventh after Paige Bergan reached on an error and Ellie Higdon walked, but LVC found a way out of the jam once again, picking up back-to-back pop-ups to secure the 4-0 victory.
Larson and Meghan Marianelli recorded the two hits for King's in game two.

Madisyn vonFrisch went the distance, allowing eight hits and four runs, three earned, with two strikeouts across 93 pitches.

The Monarchs return to action on Saturday, April 18 as the team travels to Hoboken, NJ to take on Stevens Institute of Technology for a MAC Freedom doubleheader set to begin at 1:00 p.m.