CHESTER, Pa. (Apr. 28, 2017) – Senior Alexis Schengrund (Hillsborough, N.J.) hurled a shutout to help lead the Widener University softball team to a 3-0 victory over Lebanon Valley in the first game a Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth twinbill on Friday afternoon. The Dutchmen later won the nightcap by a 7-1 decision to earn the split.
 
Widener's senior class, which was recognized prior to the opener, helped the program record its 100th victory over the last four seasons. The group consisting of Schengrund along with Liz Antonucci (Nesconset, N.Y.), Nicole Burt (Staten Island, N.Y.), Bree VanReenen (Elkton, Md.), Devin Coyne (Chesapeake, Va.) and Ally Horvath (Chalftont, Pa.) ended the afternoon with a 100-40 ledger over the last four years, which includes an impressive .714 winning percentage and qualifying for the conference tournament every season.
 
Schengrund found herself locked in a scoreless pitcher's duel with Lebanon Valley's Madeline Abbot until the Pride broke through in the third inning. Freshman Jamie Gosselin (Abington, Pa.) got the offense started by singling, advancing to second on an error and then taking third on a groundout. With the game's first run just 60 feet away from home, junior Katie Sterling (Middletown, Del.) then hit a sacrifice fly to give the hosts a 1-0 edge.
 
After Widener's senior hurler retired six straight batters, Sterling came through again in the bottom of the sixth by blasting a leadoff homer to left field. Four batters later, Taylor Allen fired a ball through the legs of the Ducthmen second baseman to plate freshman Carli Benozich (Drexel Hill, Pa.) and give Schengrund more than enough insurance to work with from the circle.
 
Schengrund picked up the shutout victory for Widener and improved her record to 4-2 this season by yielding just four hits. She also registered one strikeout and did not issue a walk. Lebanon Valley's Abbot suffered the loss and fell to 13-6 after surrendering five hits and three runs, including two earned, while recording five strikeouts.
 
Lebanon Valley (23-13, MAC Commonwealth 10-6), however, came out stronger in the second game by pushing three runs across in the second and sixth frames. Haley Christensen did the bulk of the damage offensively and opened the scoring by belting a two-run double down the line in left before rocketing a two-run homer to center to give the Dutchmen a seven-run cushion.
 
Despite falling behind, the Pride did not go down without fighting and was able to pack the pond with three runners and nobody out in the bottom of the seventh. Sophomore Liv Rogers (West Chester, Pa.) drew a bases-loaded walk to put the hosts on the board, but Abbot came to the rescue in relief and got out of the jam by striking out the next batter and inducing a groundout to end the game.
 
Alexa Windsor earned the win for Lebanon Valley in the circle and improved to 9-5 on the spring. She yielded six hits, one run which was earned and struck out five over six and one-third frames. The Pride's Horvath was tagged with the loss for giving up seven hits and four runs, which were all earned, in four and two-thirds frames of work.
 
Widener (23-9, MAC Commonwealth 10-4) will wrap up its regular season when it visits Lycoming for a twinbill tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. and then head to Alvernia to make its fourth straight appearance in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament next weekend.