Game 1 Box Score - Game 2 Box Score
By Bryn Swartz, GoMessiah.com reporter
Annville, PA — Another quality can now be added to the 2011 version of Messiah softball:
Resiliency.
After dropping a rare sweep at the hands of Commonwealth Conference rival Lebanon Valley College over the weekend, Messiah successfully bounced back Wednesday, taking a pair from host Dickinson College 6-2 and 4-2.
In the first game, sophomore pitcher Jocelyn Hickey pitched a complete game. She allowed just four hits, one walk and one earned run, while collecting her sixth victory of the season.
Messiah (20-4) backed Hickey (6-2) with a trio of runs in the first two innings. In the top of the first, the Falcons scored a run on singles from junior Abi Buchler, freshman Krista Ammon and sophomore Stephanie Schell.
Junior Jessica Rhoads, playing as the team's designated hitter, led off the second with a single. She advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and a groundout, and scored on another single from Schell. Schell then stole second and scored on Buchler's single.
Dickinson scored a run in the bottom of the fourth and the sixth, but the Falcons added two more, holding on to win 4-2.
In Game Two, Messiah pitched freshman Sara Dietrich. Like Hickey, Dietrich (7-0) pitched a complete game, allowing just six hits and two runs.
Neither team scored until Dickinson (9-12) pushed across a run in the bottom of the fourth. But Messiah responded with a run of its own, as junior Ashley Lehman tripled in Dietrich.
Dickinson's Emily Murtaugh broke a 1-1 tie with a powerful home run to center field in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Entering the seventh and final inning, the Falcons trailed 2-1, and faced their third defeat in the last four games.
Schell led off with a single but junior Lauren Seneca struck out. Rhoads pinch-hit and delivered a single, placing runners on first and second. Dietrich fouled out, the second out of the inning.
But Lehman delivered a big single to right field, and an error allowed Schell to score the tying run. Freshman Sara Seneca followed with a go-ahead two-run single, giving the Falcons a 4-2 lead, their first of the game.
In the bottom of the seventh, Dietrich retired Dickinson College on a pair of groundouts and a line out.
With the wins, the 10th-ranked Falcons improved to 20-4 on the season. The team will travel to Widener University Saturday to resume Commonwealth Conference play. Game time for the first of two is scheduled for 3 p.m.
