Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
Box Score (Game 1)
Box Score (Game 2)
JESSUP, Pa.—Elizabethtown College spoiled The University of Scranton’s home opener Saturday afternoon at the Jessup Youth Sports Complex.
The first game featured four lead changes and two ties before the Blue Jays scored twice in the seventh inning and held on for a 10-9 victory. Elizabethtown belted out 11 hits en route to a 9-2 victory in the nightcap.
Juniors Payton Marunich (Slatington, Pa./Northern Lehigh) and Jessica White (Schwenksville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) provided much of the offense for the Blue Jays in the opener. White belted a pair of home runs and finished with three hits and three RBI and Marunich had three hits, including a home run, and drove in three runs to support winning pitcher Justyna Pepkowski (Quakertown, Pa./Quakertown). Pepkowski came on in relief and scattered seven hits, struck out two, and allowed only three runs over the final five innings.
Juniors Gabrielle Santarelli (Jessup, Pa./Valley View) and Stephanie Romano (Oak Ridge, NJ/West Milford) led the Royals with three hits apiece and freshman Shannon Stricker (Morrisville, Pa./Conwell Egan) added a pair. Santarelli hit a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, her first of the season and the second of her career.
The second game was on the verge of being another nail-biter until Elizabethtown broke it open with two runs in the fifth inning and four more in the sixth. Junior Becky Becher (Parsippany, NJ/Parsipanny) had three hits, including a double, and drove in four runs and freshman Kirstin Blass (Catawissa, Pa./Southern Columbia) and senior Amanda Sheckards (Hummelstown, Pa./Central Dauphin East) combined for four hits and five runs scored.
Junior Laura Tomasetti (Bridgeton, NJ/Cumberland Regional) went the distance to pick up the win on the mound, scattering eight hits and striking out two.
Santarelli had three hits in the nightcap to raise her batting average to .347 and freshman catcher Jacqueline DeSarro (Bethlehem, Pa./Bethlehem Catholic) smacked two hits, including her team-leading third home run of the season, for the Royals, now 4-11 overall and 1-3 in the Landmark Conference.
With today’s sweep, the Blue Jays are now 10-10 overall and 5-1 in their first season in the Landmark Conference in softball. Elizabethtown College will become a full member of the Landmark in all sports beginning with the 2014-2015 academic year.
The Royals will return to action this Tuesday, April 8, against King’s College in a non-conference doubleheader beginning at 5:00 p.m. at the Jessup Youth Sports Complex.
--ROYALS--
