Box Scores
Game 1 - W 7-6 (11 inn.)
Game 2 - L 3-2

Photo Gallery

EAST STROUDSBURG – East Stroudsburg University won 7-6 in 11 innings in the opener, and Philadelphia University avoided another extra-inning game with a go-ahead double in the top of the seventh for a 3-2 win at the Warriors and Rams split a non-conference softball doubleheader on Thursday at Zimbar Field.

ESU (12-23, 5-5), second in the PSAC East by a game over West Chester and Shippensburg, returns to conference action on Friday with a doubleheader at Millersville.

In the opener, neither team cashed in on the international tiebreaker in the eighth or ninth inning before both teams did in the 10th. The Warriors finally won it when senior 2B Brandi Stettler came home on a wild pitch in the 11th to end their longest game since falling to Shippensburg, 3-2 in 11 innings, in the NCAA Tournament in 2006.

ESU also won an extra-inning game over the Rams in March in Florida, prevailing 6-5 in nine innings.

Freshman Taylor Webb went 7.0 strong innings in relief in the circle for ESU after freshman Shaylyn Wood (4.0 IP, 5 runs, 3 earned) left after a leadoff walk in the fifth. Webb gave up just one run, an unearned run in the 10th inning, and gave up three hits while striking out six and walking one.

Nicole Troisi put Philadelphia (9-24) up 5-4 with a solo homer in the fourth after moving from designated player to pitcher with nobody out in the middle of ESU's four-run third. Troisi gave up three runs, none of them earned, on five hits in 8.0 innings.

Webb and Troisi both put zeroes on the board from the sixth through the ninth innings with the help of their defense. Both teams had three base runners thrown out between the eighth and ninth frames, when neither squad could capitalize on the international tiebreaker.

Philadelphia broke through in the 10th on a two-out infield single by Samantha Riabko, but ESU answered in the bottom half. Sophomore OF Rebecca Smith, the Warriors' runner on second, moved up on a sacrifice bunt by freshman 3B Cara McNeil and a line drive single back to the pitcher by senior DH Rachel Gieringer loaded the bases. After Troisi got the first out, senior 1B Brittany Zanzalari drove in Smith with a ground out to short. Stettler nearly won it with a base hit, but her line drive up the middle was deflected to the second baseman, who nabbed her by a step at first.

Webb got a strikeout and groundout after a sacrifice bunt gave Philadelphia a runner on third with one out in the 11th, and the Warriors won it quickly in the bottom of the inning. Stettler advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by freshman OF Kasey Meckes and scored the winning run on a wild pitch with freshman OF Kacie Killeen at the plate.

In the second game, Philadelphia's Samantha Abromavage (7.0 IP, 6 hits, 2 runs, 0 earned) managed to outduel ESU freshman Marianne Wright (7.0 IP, 7 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned) with single runs in the sixth and seventh innings.

ESU took a 1-0 lead with an unearned run in the first, when McNeil hit a one-out double and scored after the Rams mishandled a potential run down after a base hit by Gieringer.

Both teams traded unearned runs in the fourth before Philadelphia tied it in the sixth, getting a leadoff double by Stephanie Martin, a sacrifice bunt and a ground ball to make the score 2-2.

The Rams scored the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh on a one-out double by Riabko before Wright got out of the inning. ESU got a one-out base runner when McNeil reached on an error and advanced to second, but a line drive to center by Gieringer turned into the final two outs when the Rams doubled up pinch runner Cara Woods.

Gieringer moved into fifth in school history with 157 career hits during the doubleheader, going 4-for-9 including a 3-for-5 game in the opener. She passed former standout second baseman Shannon Dietrich, who had 154 hits from 2004-07 and played on two NCAA Tournament teams.

Smith, Stettler and McNeil were all 3-for-8 on the day. ESU had 12 hits in the opener and six in the second game.

Senior catcher Alex Schubert, who had a game-changing two-out, two-run double in the seventh inning of a 4-3 win to open Tuesday's sweep at Shippensburg, had another two-run double to highlight a four-run fourth inning in game 1.