READING, Pa. (Apr. 19, 2017) -  Sophomore Liv Rogers (West Chester, Pa.) went 3-for-5 and drove in the winning run to help lead the Widener University softball team to an 8-7 victory over Alvernia on Wednesday afternoon at Angelica Park.
 
Widener improved to 22-7 overall and 9-2 in MAC Commonwealth play with the victory, while Alvernia dropped to 15-12 overall, including 3-8 in league action, with the setback. The programs also began a second game which was tied at 4-4 and called after six innings due to darkness. It will be made up and replayed in its entirety at a date and time to be determined.
 
The Pride capitalized on several defensive and pitching mistakes by the Crusaders to build up a sizable lead in the opener of the scheduled twinbill. After freshman Jamie Gosselin (Abington, Pa.) came home while junior Lauren DelRomano (Broomall, Pa.) was attempting to steal second in the first inning, the visitors tacked on five runs in the second. Seniors Liz Antonucci (Nesconset, N.Y.) and Ally Horvath (Chalfont, Pa.) provided RBI singles, junior Katie Rabuck (Hegins, Pa.) scored on a wild pitch and two more runners were plated when DelRomano reached on a fielding error by the Crusader second baseman.
 
Widener padded the margin some more when Horvath belted an RBI triple in the top of the sixth, but the Crusaders miraculously came back and scored seven times in the bottom of the frame with all of the runs coming home with two outs. Amanda Turner ignited the offense with a two-run single before Brianna DePriest tied the game up with a triple to right field which plated another pair of base runners.
 
But despite surrendering a large lead, the Pride still found a way to earn the much-needed conference win and did all the damage with two outs in the top of the ninth. Junior Katie Sterling (Middletown, Del.) singled, stole second and then came home on a double by Rogers to make it 8-7. Reliever Alexis Schengrund (Hillsborough, N.J.) then shut the door on the Crusaders in the bottom of the frame to allow the visitors to triumph.
 
Schengrund improved to 3-2 by picking up the victory in the circle for Widener. She threw three and one-third scoreless frames and allowed just three hits while fanning two. Alvernia's Samantha Petry suffered the loss and dropped to 2-2 after allowing three hits and giving up the winning run in three innings of work.
 
Widener, which is on the verge of clinching a postseason berth, returns home to host Lebanon Valley for a doubleheader on Saturday, Apr. 22 beginning at 1:00 p.m.