KISSIMMEE, Fla. (March 10, 2016) – Sophomore Katie Sterling (Middletown, Del.) went a perfect 3-for-3 from the plate and senior captain Heather Forward (Philadelphia, Pa.) drove in her sixth run of the season in leading the Widener University softball team to a 2-1 win over Baldwin Wallace at the Rebel Spring Games on Thursday. The Pride also defeated Mitchell College by a 7-2 score to close out the six-game trip with a 5-1 record.
 
Baldwin Wallace (3-6) opened the scoring by pushing across a run in the top of the first inning. After Erica English drew a leadoff walk and stole second, the shortstop came home on a single through the left side by Paige Loveless.
 
With junior hurler Alexis Schengrund (Hillsborough, N.J.) dominating in the circle after a tough first frame, Widener rallied by plating one run in the third and sixth frames. Forward hit a single to the shortstop which brought home sophomore Lauren DelRomano (Broomall, Pa.) for the tying run, and classmate Taylor Allen (Northeast, Md.) reached on an error three innings later to help plate senior captain Taylor Church (Glen Mills, Pa.) for the eventual game-winning tally.
 
Schengrund picked up the victory for Widener and improved her record to a perfect 3-0 by allowing just two hits and one run over seven frames and fanning a season-high 12 opposing batters. After surrendering her first earned run of the season, she finished the game by throwing six shutout frames and only allowed one runner to reach second base. Erica Morgan of Baldwin Wallace suffered the tough loss despite yielding eight hits and two runs, which were both unearned, and striking out three.
 
Later in the day, Widener overwhelmed a struggling Mitchell squad and wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. Ally Horvath (Chalfont, Pa.) opened the game by slapping a single, stealing second and then coming home two plays later on a two-bagger by Sterling to right field. Forward then followed with a single to center to give the Pride a 2-0 advantage before the Mariners even came to bat.
 
The Pride padded their lead in the middle innings and found themselves ahead by a 5-0 score while pitcher Devin Coyne (Chesapeake, Va.) was in the process of holding the opponent hitless. After Sterling hit a sacrifice fly to tack on one run in the third, Widener scored two more times in the fifth on an unorthodox play. Batting with a runner on first base and one, freshman Sydney Powell (Langhorne, Pa.) laid down a bunt with the intent of sacrificing sophomore Katie Rabuck (Hegins, Pa.) over to second. The throw by catcher Samantha DelConte was so wild that it allowed both Rabuck and Powell to score on the play.
 
Mitchell (1-9) recorded its first hit of the contest when Jacquelyn White reached first safely by narrowly beating out a throw from short, but the deficit would ultimately be too much for the Mariners to overcome. Even though White was able to put the Mariners on the board by touching home plate three plays later, the Pride got a two-run blast to the power alley in left by Sterling that put the game out of reach.
 
Coyne picked up her first victory of the season for Widener by not allowing a run or a hit over four innings of work. She also struck out four and walked two. Brittany Fiederlein pitched the entire game for Mitchell and dropped to 1-4 after yielding seven runs, including six which were earned, as well as eight hits.
 
Widener (5-1) is next slated to host a twinbill against Swarthmore on Tuesday, March 15 at 4:00 p.m.