GRANTHAM, Pa. (Apr. 2, 2017) – Sophomore
Liv Rogers (West Chester, Pa.) hit a go-ahead RBI single and senior
Ally Horvath (Chalfont, Pa.) won her sixth straight start in the circle to propel the Widener University softball team to a 10-4 victory over #9-ranked Messiah in the second game of a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon. The Falcons held off the Pride in the opener, 4-2, to earn the split.
With the victory in the nightcap, Widener snapped Messiah's 46-game winning streak in the regular season against Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth opponents. The last time the Falcons lost a league matchup was on Apr. 16, 2014 when they fell to Lebanon Valley by a 4-0 decision. The win was also the school's second triumph over a nationally-ranked opponent this past week, as the Widener baseball team defeated #16 TCNJ on Wednesday, March 29 at home.
Widener found itself trailing by a 2-1 score in the nightcap before the bats came alive to plate nine runs in the last two innings. Rogers first hit a bases-loaded single through the left side, which plated junior
Lauren DelRomano (Broomall, Pa.) and freshman
Jamie Gosselin (Abington, Pa.), and junior
Katie Rabuck (Hegins, Pa.) also provided a spark by belting a pinch-hit double down the line in left to tack on two more runs. Rabuck came home when Horvath singled to left to cap a six-run frame and make it 7-2 in favor of the visitors heading into the bottom of the sixth.
Even though Messiah tacked on another run to bring the margin down to four, the Pride's offense stayed red hot and added three insurance runs in the top of the seventh. Junior
Katie Sterling (Middletown, Del.), who reached base safely by doubling to right, scored on a throwing error before freshman
Carli Benozich (Drexel Hill, Pa.) sent in Rogers on a sacrifice fly. An RBI single by sophomore
Maddie Kienbaum (Ashburn, Va.) capped the scoring for Widener, which shook off a solo homer by Erin Cressman in the bottom of the seventh to earn the key win.
Horvath improved to 7-1 for Widener by going the distance in the circle. She yielded 11 hits, four runs and fanned one batter. Messiah's Madelyn Yannetti was dealt her first loss of the season after giving up four runs, including three earned, and four hits. She also issued two walks and was chased away from the game after five innings.
In the opener, Messiah (19-4, MAC Commonwealth 7-1) built up a 4-0 lead by scoring one run in the third frame and three more in the fourth. Amanda Jones hit a sacrifice fly to put the Falcons on the board, and Sydney Boreman gave the hosts some breathing room by hitting an RBI double to right center. Shannon Denny then belted a two-run single up the middle to provide additional insurance.
Widener, however, slashed the margin in half when Rogers blasted a two-run homer in the fifth and most notably had an opportunity to tie and take the lead in the seventh with runners on first and second and two outs. But after Sterling reached on an error to represent the tying run, hurler Carrie Fix was able to induce a groundout to end the game.
Messiah's Fix picked up the win and improved to 7-2 this spring after surrendering two runs, which were both earned, and six hits. Rabuck suffered the loss and fell to 5-3 for Widener, which stranded nine runners on the basepaths in the contest. She gave up six hits and four runs, including one earned, while striking out three and walking just one.
Widener (14-6, MAC Commonwealth 3-1) continues conference play when it hosts Arcadia for a twinbill on Wednesday, Apr. 5 beginning at 4:00 p.m.
