CHESTER, Pa. (March 24, 2017) – Sophomore Liv Rogers (West Chester, Pa.) scattered a combined five hits, which included going yard twice, and drove in six runs in leading the Widener University softball team to a doubleheader sweep of Gwynedd Mercy on Friday evening. The Pride won the opener by a 12-1 score in six innings before triumphing by a 9-3 decision in the nightcap.
 
Gwynedd Mercy (4-8) plated the first run of the opener on a home run that came off the bat of Nikki Canfield in the top of the second, but the Pride quickly responded by scoring three times in the bottom half of the same frame. After junior Katie Sterling (Middletown, Del.) singled and advanced to second when senior Liz Antonucci (Nesconset, N.Y.) was hit by a pitch, Rogers blasted a three-run homer to put the hosts ahead.
 
Widener (8-4) then followed up by scoring seven times on five hits in the bottom of the third, and Rogers went yard again in the fourth to close out the scoring with her fifth and sixth runs batted in during the contest. Reliever Devin Coyne (Chesapeake, Va.) then retired the Griffins in order in the top of the fifth to end the game early due to the eight-run rule.
 
Junior Katie Rabuck (Hegins, Pa.) picked up the victory for Widener and improved her record to 3-1 after allowing just three hits and one run, which was earned, in three innings of work due in the shortened game. She also struck out five and did not issue a walk. Alexis Gartner of Gwynedd Mercy suffered the loss and dropped to 1-4 by being lit up for seven hits and eight runs, which were all earned, while lasting just two and one-third frames.
 
Widener plated five runs in the bottom of the second inning and never trailed in the nightcap. Senior Ally Horvath (Chalfont, Pa.) slapped a single with the bases loaded to put the Pride on the board before freshman Carli Benozich (Drexel Hill, Pa.) doubled the lead by coming home on a wild pitch. Senior Nicole Burt (Staten Island, N.Y.), junior Lauren DelRomano (Broomall, Pa.) and Sterling added RBI singles to pad the team's lead in the same frame.
 
After surrendering a run in the top of the third, Widener scored once in each of the next four frames to pull away. Benozich knocked out her first career home run off the scoreboard in left in the fifth to make it 8-1 at the time, and Sterling rifled a double down the line in left to close out the scoring.
 
Horvath earned the win in the circle for Widener and improved to 3-1 on the spring by tossing five strong innings in which she gave up three hits and one run which was unearned. Gwynedd Mercy's Alyssa Morales went the distance and was charged with yielding 12 hits and nine runs, which were all earned, over six frames.
 
Widener, which has won six straight games, will continue its homestand when it opens up Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth action against Stevenson on Sunday, March 26 at 2 p.m.