Lady Lions Sweep Rival Mount Aloysius
ALTOONA, Pa. – Penn State Altoona softball earned a pair of Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference wins on Wednesday afternoon, when the Lady Lions swept nearby conference rival Mount Aloysius College in a doubleheader at Stewart Athletic Field.
Penn State Altoona (14-9-1, 4-2 AMCC) posted a 4-2 victory in game one before grinding out a 1-0 win in game two.
"I thought we pitched and played outstanding defense today to get a very important sweep of a quality opponent. It was nice to see Sidney Shultz get back to pitching like we know she can. She has worked hard in the gym and now has a great game to build on," said Penn State Altoona head coach Joe Merilli. "We still left too many on base in the first game, but it was nice to see Kelsey Bristol continue to swing a strong bat. I can't say enough good things about our whole defense, especially our outfield who played a heck of a game. Now, we need to keep the intensity and keep piling up conference wins."
In game one, the Lady Lions used a well-rounded performance of timely hitting with strong pitching and defense to secure a win.
Emily Strouse (Beech Creek, PA/Central Mountain) tossed a complete game and got the victory to improve her season record to 7-2. The right-hander pitched seven innings, giving up only two runs on six hits and three walks while recording one strikeout.
Kelsey Bristol (Troy, PA/Troy) finished a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate for Penn State Altoona, driving in one run. Abby Showers (Philipsburg, PA/Philispburg-Osceola) was 2-for-4 with a run scored and two stolen bases.
Penn State Altoona plated two runs in the bottom of the first on a sacrifice fly from Olivia Miller (West Newton, PA/Yough) and an error that allowed Haley Giedroc (Howard, PA/Bald Eagle) to score.
The Lady Lions made it 3-0 in the bottom of the third when another Mount Aloysius error allowed Miller to score, and the home team increased its lead to 4-0 in the fifth on Bristol's RBI single up the middle.
Lydia Defazio's RBI base hit to center put Mount Aloysius on the board in the top of the sixth, and the Lady Mounties used Courtney Link's RBI double in the seventh to get another run across. But Mount Aloysius did no further damage, as Penn State Altoona clinched the two-run victory.
In game two, Penn State Altoona received excellent pitching and defense to keep Mount Aloysius off the board.
Sidney Shultz (Runville, PA/Bald Eagle) pitched a complete game shutout – her second of the season – to improve her season record to 4-5. The righty tossed seven innings and limited Mount Aloysius to just three hits and two walks while striking out two.
Meghan Marasti (Harrison City, PA/Penn Trafford) was 1-for-3 with a double and scored the winning run, while Miller was 1-for-3 with the go-ahead RBI.
After five-and-a-half scoreless innings, Penn State Altoona came up with the game's lone run in the bottom of the sixth. Marasti led off with a double to left-center and moved up to third base on a groundout. In the next at-bat, Miller's grounder to the third baseman created a play at the plate when Marasti broke for home, but Marasti slid under the tag to score for the Lady Lions.
Penn State Altoona softball is slated to return to action tomorrow, Thursday, April 19 for another home AMCC doubleheader. The Lady Lions will host La Roche College, with game one beginning at 3:00 p.m.
