GWYNEDD VALLEY, Pa. (March 30, 2016) – Junior Ally Horvath (Chalfont, Pa.) won her third straight decision in the circle while also blasting a home run and scoring six times to help the Widener University softball team sweep a doubleheader at Gwynedd Mercy and extend its winning streak to nine games on Wednesday afternoon. The Pride won a pair of six-inning contests by scores of 16-5 and 8-6.
 
After Gwynedd Mercy (9-5) pushed across a pair of runs in the bottom of the second, Widener took control of the opener by scoring five times in the top of the third and taking advantage of an unfathomable five Griffin errors. Freshman Sydney Powell (Langhorne, Pa.), sophomore Taylor Allen (Northeast, Md.), senior Heather Forward (Philadelphia, Pa.) sophomore Katie Sterling (Middletown, Del.) and Horvath all crossed the dish due to a plethora of defensive miscues by the Griffins.
 
Widener, which led by two through five frames, then exploded for nine runs in the top of the sixth to put the game away. Horvath set the tone by using the wind to and hitting a home run over the fence in right to ignite the offensive barrage, while Forward followed with a double and scored on a triple by senior Alie Alkins (Aston, Pa.). Junior Devin Coyne (Chesapeake, Va.), senior Taylor Church (Glen Mills, Pa.),  Allen, Horvath, Forward and Alkins all drove in additional runs before Sterling lined out as the 14th batter of the frame.
 
Horvath picked up the win in the circle and improved her record to 3-2 this season for Widener. She gave up five runs, which were all earned, and 11 hits while striking out four and only issuing one walk in six innings of work. Gwynedd Mercy's Alyssa Morales took the tough loss after surrendering 12 hits over 5.2 frames. A jaw-dropping 13 of the 16 runs she yielded were unearned with the Griffin defense committing nine errors in the game.
 
In the nightcap, the teams traded the lead in the first inning. After Sterling blasted her third home run of the season to make it 2-0, Gwynedd Mercy answered with four runs in the bottom half of the frame to move ahead. Sophomore reliever Katie Rabuck (Hegins, Pa.) got out of the tough jam with the help of her defense, as junior Bree VanReenen (Elkton, Md.) caught a line drive that was smoked by Kim Machalette and then threw the ball over to freshman Maddie Kienbaum (Ashburn, Va.) to get Amanda Hesson out at third and complete the double play.
 
Despite the rough opening frame, Widener's bats came alive again as the team would rally from behind to win for the fifth straight game. Freshman Olivia Rogers (West Chester, Pa.) singled through the right side to score Alkins, who plated Forward earlier in the frame by tripling to right center, before an RBI single up the middle by Allen put the Pride up for good in the top of the third.
 
Rabuck picked up the victory for Widener in a game that was called after six innings due to darkness. She ended the day with an unblemished 2-0 ledger on the season after registering a career-high seven strikeouts over 5.2 frames of relief. Gwynedd Mercy's Machalette was tagged with the loss after allowing 12 hits and seven runs that were all earned.
 
Widener (15-3) resumes conference play this weekend when it hosts Alvernia for a twinbill on Saturday afternoon beginning at 1:00 p.m.