KISSIMMEE, Fla. (March 7, 2016) – Senior captain Alie Alkins (Aston, Pa.) went a combined 5-for-7 from the plate and drove in four runs to power the Widener University softball team to a pair of victories at the Rebel Spring Games on Monday. The Pride defeated Carroll by an 8-1 score in their first game before rallying to earn a 10-9 win over Hiram to close out the afternoon.
 
In the opener against Carroll (2-4), Widener broke a scoreless deadlock by pushing across two runs in the fourth and fifth frames by taking advantage of a pair of Pioneer miscues in the field. Sophomore Katie Sterling (Middletown, Del.) blasted a two-run double to put the Pride on the board before Alkins singled in junior Ally Horvath (Chalfront, Pa.) and sophomore Taylor Allen (Northeast, Md.) one inning later. Senior captain Taylor Church (Glen Mills, Pa.) then made it 5-1 by singling home classmate and fellow captain Heather Forward (Philadelphia, Pa.), who walked and stole second earlier in the frame, and closed out the scoring in the seventh by reaching on a fielder's choice when the game was already out of reach.
 
Junior Alexis Scehngrund (Hillsborough, N.J.) picked up the victory in the circle for Widener by going the distance and not allowing an earned run. She fanned nine and did not issue a walk to start the 2016 campaign with a 1-0 ledger. Hannah Miller was tagged with the loss after surrendering six hits and four runs, including one earned, over five frames.
 
The Pride's second game of the day against Hiram (0-3) was a wild one, as both teams combined to scatter 27 hits and commit six errors defensively. The Terriers, who were the visiting team in the contest, got on the board by scoring once in the top of the first and built up a 4-1 lead when Kourtney Holcomb singled to center to plate Brittany Zajac, who reached on an error earlier in the third frame.
 
Widener, however, fought back by scoring three runs in the bottom of the third to tie things up as well as two in the fourth and one in the fifth. Sterling tied the game by scoring on a sacrifice fly by Bree VanReenen (Elkton, Md.) and then gave the Pride their first lead by launching a home run way over the fence in left center.
 
Despite surrendering five runs in the top of the sixth to fall behind by two runs, Widener once again clawed back and answered with three tallies in the bottom half of the frame to move ahead for good. After Forward tied the game with a sacrifice fly to center, Alkins scored from third on a Sterling groundout for what would prove to be the game-winning run.
 
Sophomore Lindsey Manera (Mount Laurel, N.J.) earned the win in the circle for Widener by throwing 1.2 frames of scoreless relief. She quieted the Terrier bats by only allowing two hits and issuing one walk to move her record to 1-0 in the early going. Makenzie Dombrowski pitched the entire game for Hiram after being lit up for 10 runs, which were all earned, on 16 hits in six innings of work.
 
Widener (2-0) resumes action tomorrow when it faces Defiance at 11:15 a.m. and #20-ranked Central at 1:30 p.m.