Game 1 Box Score - Game 2 Box Score
By Bryn Swartz, GoMessiah.com reporter
Grantham, PA — Messiah head coach Amy Weaver has only been able to pitch All-American Jess Rhoads in about half of her scheduled starts this season, as the junior continues to battle nagging injuries. Yet the team keeps winning, regardless of who is in the circle.
Monday's double-header versus Elizabethtown College was no exception, as the Falcons swept the visiting Blue Jays, 7-0 and 9-3, improving to 27-5 for the season (9-3 in the conference).
With a stomach ailment sidelining Rhoads throughout the afternoon, sophomore Jocelyn Hickey pitched arguably the best game of her college career in Game One, limiting the Blue Jays to two hits and no runs over seven innings. Hickey (9-2) walked just one and struck out four while tossing her second complete-game shutout of the 2011 season.
She was in control the entire game, benefiting from a couple of great fielding plays from sophomore left fielder Stephanie Schell, including a diving catch to end the sixth inning. Hickey also turned in a web gem of her own, snaring a line drive off the bat of shortstop Lindsey Cooper for the second-to-last out of the game.
The Falcons' bats provided Hickey with seven runs, which was more than enough.
In the first inning, a trio of singles by junior Ashley Lehman and freshmen Sara Seneca and Sara Dietrich provided the game's first run. Seneca drove in classmate Amanda Fife with two outs in the second inning
Messiah — ranked sixth in last week's NFCA Top 25 Poll — scored five runs in the final three innings to blow open a game that was 2-0, and well within Elizabethtown's range, after the first three innings.
The Falcons collected 16 hits, including a combined 14 of 24 from the first six hitters — Lehman, freshman Sara Seneca, junior Jacki Merkel, Dietrich, Schell and freshman Krista Ammon. Elizabethtown's Julie Sebastian (9-10) was tagged for all 16 hits and seven runs in six innings of work.
In the second game, the Falcons pitched Dietrich, who had been 8-0 until the first loss of her college career, suffered last week against Lycoming College.
Merkel provided Dietrich with a run by homering in the bottom of the first. But Elizabethtown (15-18, 4-8) tied the game with a run in the top of the second, on a double, passed ball and groundout to second base.
Ammon blew the game open with a bases-clearing triple in the bottom of the third, planting the Falcons with a solid, 4-1 lead.
E'Town cut the lead to 4-3 with a pair on three hits in the top of the fifth, causing the Falcons to replace Dietrich with Game One starter Hickey. But junior Lauren Seneca belted a two-run double in the bottom of the frame to increase the Falcons' lead to 6-3.
Three hits and three more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning sealed the game for Messiah.
Dietrich pitched four and one-third innings and allowed six hits and three earned runs. It wasn't one of her better outings, but it was enough for Dietrich to pick up her ninth victory of the season.
Hickey earned her first save of the year, pitching two and two-thirds perfect innings in relief. For the day, Hickey pitched nine and two-third innings, allowing only two hits, one walk and no earned runs. She lowered her earned run average to 1.51.
Should the weather continue to hold — a rarity for this spring — Messiah will host McDaniel College Thursday in a non-conference double-dip. Game time for the first of two is set for 3:30 p.m.
