CHESTER, Pa. (Apr. 18, 2016) – Sophomore Lauren DelRomano (Broomall, Pa.) went a combined 3-for-5 and hit a walk-off single in the nightcap to propel the Widener University softball team to a doubleheader sweep of Eastern on Monday evening. The Pride won by scores of 3-2 and 5-4.
 
The nightcap provided plenty of suspense before coming down to the final at-bat. Widener most notably charged ahead when a throwing error by the Eagles shortstop in an attempt to get senior Heather Forward (Philadelphia, Pa.) out at third was off target and allowed the senior to score a go-ahead run. Two batters later, junior pitcher Devin Coyne (Chesapeake, Va.) helped herself out by blooping a single down the line in right which allowed freshman Sydney Powell (Langhorne, Pa.) and junior Bree VanReenen (Elkton, Md.) to score and make it 4-1 through four frames.
 
Despite falling behind by three, Eastern (8-20) fought back by adding two runs in the fifth as well as the tying run in the top of the seventh to prolong the game. Eagles reliever Haleigh Williams, who drove in Kasey Williams for the equalizer, was then able to retire the first two Pride hitters in the bottom of the seventh to nearly send the contest into extras.
 
Junior Ally Horvath (Chalfont, Pa.), however, came through by slapping a double the line in left to keep the inning alive. With two outs still on the board, DelRomano then hit a slow dribbler down the first base line and was able to avoid the tag attempt by first baseman Alyssa Welsh to reach the bag safely with a single. Horvath, meanwhile, used her blistering speed to score the winning run all the way from second to allow the Pride to complete the sweep in dramatic fashion.
 
In addition to providing a clutch hit and scoring the winning run, Horvath also picked up the victory in the circle for Widener and improved her record to 5-3 this spring. She gave up five hits and one run, which was earned, while striking out four and not issuing a walk over two innings of work. Haleigh Williams suffered the loss for Eastern and dropped to 4-11 after giving up the winning run and two hits in 2.2 frames.
 
The opener also proved to be a nip-and-tuck battle with two ties and two lead changes. Widener opened the scoring when freshman Olivia Rogers (West Chester, Pa.) tripled and scored on a Taylor Allen (Northeast, Md.) groundout to second in the bottom of the third, but the Eagles fought back and took their first lead of the afternoon in the sixth.
 
After Kelsey Clever hit a solo shot over the fence in left to put the visitors on the board in the fifth inning, Eastern was able to move ahead when Welsh scored on a Pride error in the outfield on another deep drive by the Eagle shortstop. Sophomore reliever Katie Rabuck (Hegins, Pa.), however, got out of a jam with two runners in scoring position by catching Olivia Heffinger looking at strike three.
 
The fanning of Heffinger by Rabuck in a tense situation ignited the Widener bats, as DelRomano blasted a leadoff triple to right field to get the offense started. Sophomore Katie Sterling (Middletown, Del.) then singled to plate DelRomano two batters later, and Forward followed with a single to left center to send the eventual winning run to the dish. Then with the tying score just 60 feet away, Rabuck fooled Taylor Crown and ended the game by forcing the Eagle third baseman to look at her third strike.
 
Rabuck remained undefeated this spring for Widener and improved her record to 5-0 by earning the win in the circle. She struck out three and did not issue a walk over two frames while scattering three hits and allowing a run. Eastern's Haleigh Williams went the distance and took the loss to drop her ledger to 4-10 at the time. She yielded seven hits and three runs, which were all earned, and fanned four.
 
Widener (23-5) will look to add to its new winning streak when it visits Cabrini on Wednesday, Apr. 20 at 3:00 p.m.