Ithaca Box Score I
Bates Box Score
Clermont, FL – The Messiah softball team concluded their games at Legends Way Ballpark Friday with two wins, bringing their Spring Break record to 7-1. The Falcons' bats were lively in game one as they ripped 15 hits to take the 12-1 win over a talented Ithaca College (4-5) squad. In the second game, Messiah sat on a two run lead into the fifth inning, when the Bobcats of Bates College scored to make things interesting. The Falcons responded by scoring in the fifth and sixth to seal the 5-2 victory.
“It was a great hitting day for Messiah once again and we are happy coming out of the week with a 7-1 record,” head coach
Amy Weaver said. “We hope to keep this momentum going into next week when we come back to start conference action.”
The Falcons (9-4) faced a 1-0 deficit going into the fourth inning of the Ithaca game, until senior
Jaclyn Merkel laced a triple to get things started offensively. In the very next at-bat, junior
Stephanie Schell singled to score Merkel and even things up. But the break-out moment came two batters later when sophomore
Krista Ammon belted a two-run homerun, giving the Falcons the 3-1 lead.
With the lead, Messiah never looked back, adding runs in each of the three remaining innings.
After pushing one run across the plate in the fifth, the Falcons strung together singles from sophomore Sara Dietrich, Ammon, freshman
Nicole Blantz, sophomore
Sarah Seneca, and senior
Ashley Lehman to add four more runs; yet Messiah wasn't finished.
The Falcons erupted with another lead-off triple, this time from Schell, in the top of the seventh. Back-to-back walks and four more hits resulted in four additional runs for a total of 12.
“Ithaca is a very good team,” Weaver said. “They hosted our [NCAA] Regional Tournament last season and did really well, but today, our bats never stopped and that made the difference.”
Although the Falcons' offense was dominant, their defense and pitching wasn't too shabby either.
“We played pretty good defense,” Weaver said. “We had two errors, which fortunately didn't cost us, but Sara Dietrich was superb today.”
Dietrich (3-1), the right-hander from Lykens, PA, allowed only one run (unearned) on four hits, while striking out seven to earn her second complete-game victory of the season.
In the second game, the Bobcats were aggressive out of the gate, but Messiah struck first with a lead-off double by S. Seneca, who took third on a steal. Lehman knocked her in to take the early 1-0 lead.
S. Seneca and Lehman combined once again for the Falcons in the third as S. Seneca led-off with another double. A passed ball moved S. Seneca to third for Lehman to bring her home on a sacrifice bunt; increasing the Falcons' lead to two.
Bates College (1-2) scored in the fifth and sixth innings, but Messiah tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to bring home the 5-2 victory.
Junior
Jocelyn Hickey got the start for the Falcons, but yielded to freshman
Mallory Rutledge after two innings of work.
“We started Jocelyn [Hickey] in the second game, but she was struggling with some minor ailments,” Weaver said. “We talked it over and decided to go to Mallory [Rutledge] and give Jocelyn [Hickey] a break.”
The decision was a good one as Rutledge allowed only two runs on five hits and struck out three, earning her third win of the season.
The Falcons open up conference play Tuesday when they host the Dutchmen of Lebanon Valley College. The double header is slated to begin at 3:00 p.m.
