Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
Grantham, PA — The Messiah College softball team resumed its recent tear Monday, handing cross-town foe Dickinson College 2-1 and 7-2 defeats at Starry Field.
The wins were the fifth and sixth out of the last seven games for Messiah (21-15, 4-4), while junior Amy Bowie continued to stay in the groove at the plate: The catcher blasted a double in the first game and a homer in the second, repeating a performance she squeezed into Saturday's 9-1 win over MAC Commonwealth rival Albright College.
"It was a great day for us beating a pretty good opponent twice," said Amy Weaver, Messiah head coach. "We were able to win today's games with good pitching and some key hitting, and that's exactly the combination you need to beat good teams."
Dickinson (22-14) came into the day's games riding a five-game winning streak, with the majority of those wins coming on the right arm of sophomore Allison Jordan. Jordan — with 13 pitching wins on the year — looked to make things tough on Messiah, eventually striking out 10 Falcons' batters to give her team a fighting chance in the opener.
Junior Jenna Batchelor (7-2) turned in perhaps her best performance of the year in the circle for Messiah, however, yielding just five hits in a complete-game effort that made the thrower's duel a stalemate. After Dickinson scored its only run in the top of the third off a pair of singles, Weaver's team needed to generate some offense.
A pair of doubles would do the trick.
Freshman Rebecca Stackhouse recorded a two-bagger and was followed by a double from senior Lana Trotter, tying the game in the bottom of the third. Sophomore Abby Bergakker singled to push across Bowie in the fourth — she doubled with two outs — as Messiah recorded four of its five total hits in those innings.
That efficient offense would be enough, as Batchelor kept Dickinson at bay for the remainder, allowing just a single base runner in the final three innings to hang on for the pitching win.
"We knew they had a pretty good pitcher and the team came out prepared for a battle," Weaver said. "We settled in and took a game approach of chipping away. We got runners on twice and were able to jump on those opportunities to get two runs in. It was a complete pitcher's dual today. Jenna threw an excellent game, and we felt really good about that win in a close game against a good pitcher."
Weaver's club then got the sticks going in the day's second contest, blasting nine hits to make easy work of an early 1-0 deficit. Freshman Jessica Climenhaga (8-4) gave up an unearned run in the third off an error and a pair of wild pitches, but Messiah responded with an explosion in its half of the inning: A three-RBI dinger from Bowie capped a five-run stanza, while sophomore Nicole Adams brought two home with a single.
The Red Devils scored another run in the top of the sixth inning — a lead off triple opened that at-bat — but Messiah responded with another two in the bottom half, using a single from sophomore Tori Hatt to drive in one while Bergakker scored on the ensuing throw.
Climenhaga would go the distance in the pitching circle, allowing just two hits and three walks. Bowie's second long ball in three days helped her to a 2-3, three RBI and two runs scored line, while Adams finished 1-3 with two batted in. Bergakker went 2-3 at the plate, as did Stackhouse.
"We knew we could jump on their second pitcher and our team did just that," Weaver said. "Defensively, we played pretty solid. Our defense has really stepped it up over the past several weeks and it has shown in the win column."
Messiah will take a day off before facing another tough opponent, as the team will host York College Wednesday, a team that has won 23 games to date. The Falcons and Spartans will tangle in a double-header with the first contest scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m.
