LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – The No. 10 ranked East Stroudsburg University softball team split two games with Lock Haven University on Wednesday afternoon. The Warriors won the opener, 18-3, in five innings, and then the Bald Eagles rebounded to take game two in an 11-5 final.
Game One – No. 10 East Stroudsburg 18, Lock Haven 3 (Five Innings)
The Bald Eagles plated a pair in the second to grab a 2-0 advantage. Junior Maci Brodzina (Warriors Mark, Pa.) crossed home on a passed ball and then sophomore Riley Best (Coalport, Pa.) singled to bring home senior Maria Fratangelo (Pittsburgh, Pa.).
The Warriors broke the game open in the third, registering nine runs in the frame. Senior
Katie Master started the scoring with a three-run homer to left field. This was her 19
th career home run, a new school record of the Warriors. Senior
Taylor Lipkins then drove in a pair with a double to right field. Sophomore Kylie Ingraham scored on a throwing error and then junior
Maddy Pritchard and first-year
Kinsley Proepper crossed home on the double. Senior
Tatum Kresley brought around Lipkins with an RBI groundout and the offensive explosion ended with a two-run home run to right center field by senior
Abigail Weirich to increase the score to 9-2.
East Stroudsburg added one run in the fourth when Master touched home after Lipkins reached on a fielding error to push the margin to eight, 10-2.
The Warriors registered another strong frame in the fifth, tallying eight runs. Junior
Delaney Ridgell connected on a three-run home run to left center, senior
Shannon Edelman hit a grand slam to left center, and Weirich drove in junior
Samantha Derickson with a sacrifice fly to left field to move the score 18-2.
Lock Haven recorded a single tally in the bottom of the home half of the fifth to make the final score, 18-3.
Sophomore
Sarah Davenport was credited with the win in the circle, allowing three runs on one hit, while striking out six and walking five.
Sophomore Keri Wesneski (Canton, Pa.) was given the loss, surrendering five runs on five hits while striking out one and walking five over 2.1 innings.
Lipkins, Weirich, Proepper, and Pritchard recorded two hits each for East Stroudsburg.
Freshman Abby Robertson (Williamsport, Pa.) and Best had a hit apiece for the Bald Eagles.
Game Two – Lock Haven 11, No. 10 East Stroudsburg 5
The Warriors started fast in game two, scoring five runs. Weirich brought home Lipkins with a base hit down the left field line. Ridgell followed with a grand slam to left field to extend the score to 5-0.
Lock Haven got a run back in the home half of the first on a solo home run from freshman Blaire Balestrini (Sunbury, Pa.).
The Bald Eagles added another tally in the second on another solo shot, this time from Fratangelo to make the score 5-2.
A single run came home for Lock Haven in the third on a single up the middle from Brodzina, scoring Balestrini to trim the margin to two, 5-3.
Balestrini tied the game in the fourth with a two-RBI single up the middle to knot the contest at five. The Bald Eagles scored two more in the fourth, and added a pair of runs in the following two innings in the 11-5 final.
Freshman Talia Ross (Belle Vernon, Pa.) tossed a complete game in the circle for Lock Haven, giving up five runs on nine hits while walking four and fanning three.
Davenport was tagged with the loss, surrendering six runs on eight hits while collecting three strikeouts in 2.1 innings of work.
Balestrini had a strong game for the Bald Eagles, going 4-for-4 with five RBI and four runs scored.
Ridgell paced East Stroudsburg at the dish, finishing 2-for-3 with four RBI and a run scored.
East Stroudsburg (34-9-1 overall, 18-5-1 PSAC East) will next host Millersville University in a doubleheader on Friday, April 18 starting at 1:00 p.m.
