Jamie Hampsey	Morgan Rentzheimer	Kaitlin O'Sullivan
Shannon Stricker	Angelica Titor

Photo gallery (by Dan Ceccacci)

JESSUP, Pa. - In their final home doubleheader of the 2016 season, the University of Scranton softball team closed out their portion of games on the year at the Jessup Youth Sports Complex with a bang Wednesday, sweeping a doubleheader from Muhlenberg in non-conference play by scores of 4-1 and 10-2 (in five innings).

With the victories, Scranton moved to 18-14 on the year overall.

Game One: Scranton 4, Muhlenberg 1 | Box Score

In game one, a three-run fourth inning catapulted the Royals to a victory, as senior pitcher Jamie Hampsey (Tunkhannock, Pa./Tunkhannock) tossed a complete game, three-hit gem in the first game of the afternoon.

Scranton was first on the board in the opening frame, as an RBI double by Shannon Stricker (Morrisville, Pa./Conwell Egan) brought fellow junior Angelica Titor (Bellerose Village, N.Y./Floral Park Memorial) home to make it a 1-0 game after an inning. Muhlenberg, however, got the run back in the top of the second, knotting the game up at 1-1.

The score remained unchanged until the bottom of the fourth, where back-to-back home runs gave Scranton the lead for good.

After lead-off batter junior Marisa Ciriello (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville) got on with a single, fellow junior Kaitlin O'Sullivan (Bensalem, Pa./Nazareth Academy) gave Scranton the lead back with one swing, as the two-run home run gave the Royals a 3-1 edge. The homer for O'Sullivan was her first of the season and second of her career.

Next up was junior Morgan Rentzheimer (Laurys Station, Pa./Parkland), who hit her first career home run, giving Scranton a three-run lead into the final innings, which was more than enough run support for Hampsey to work with.

Overall, Hampsey allowed just three hits in her complete game victory, while walking no one. She also struck out two in the win and at one point in the game retired 11 straight batters. With the win, Hampsey is now 6-7 on the year.

Game Two: Scranton 10, Muhlenberg 2 (Five Innings) | Box Score

Just like in game one, a big inning paced Scranton in the second game, as an eight-run explosion in second inning blew open a game that eventually only went five innings.

After Muhlenberg scored the game's first run in the top of the first to take an early 1-0 lead, Scranton attacked back in a huge way in the bottom of the second, plating eight runs to take an insurmountable seven-run lead.

The big hit of the second inning came off the bat of Hampsey, who smacked a three-run home run to give Scranton the lead at 3-1. The homer was Hampsey's second of her career, as well.

Scranton did most of their damage in the inning, however, with two outs, as the Royals scored five runs with two away.

Titor and Stricker both posted RBI doubles with two away, while O'Sullivan had another RBI double later in the frame. The last RBI of the frame came off the bat of Rentzheimer, who had an RBI single to give Scranton the seven-run lead.

From there, the Royals rolled and with a chance to end the game up 8-2 in the fifth, they took full advantage, scoring twice to end the game.

Titor had the first RBI on a groundout with one out in the frame, then Stricker ended the evening with an RBI single on the first pitch with two outs, giving Scranton the eight-run win.

Overall, Stricker led the way at the dish in game two, going 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored, while Hampsey was 2-for-3 with three RBI and a run scored. Titor was 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored, while O'Sullivan finished out the top performers at the plate in game two, going 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored.

In the circle, Rentzheimer earned the win to go to 8-6 on the season, allowing two runs on six hits in five innings of work, while striking out six, as well.

The University of Scranton softball team returns to action on Friday, taking on Marywood in another non-conference doubleheader on the road. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.

--ROYALS--