Box Score Game 1 I
Box Score Game 2
Reading, PA – The Falcons earned two conference wins Saturday against Albright College, bringing their record to 16-6 and 3-0 in the MAC. Stellar pitching and aggressive hitting proved to be the advantage as the Falcons outhit the Lions 23-14 in their 7-0 and 6-5 victories.
In the first game, Messiah struck first when freshman
Nicole Blantz started things off with a single. Three consecutive doubles from sophomore
Krista Ammon, senior
Jaclyn Merkel, and junior
Stephanie Schell pushed three runs across the plate in the first frame and forced the Lions (4-10, 0-4) to make an early pitching change.
“We came out and just jumped on their first pitcher,” Head coach
Amy Weaver said. “It took us a bit longer to adjust to the second pitcher because she was a lefty, but we eventually did.”
It may have taken four scoreless innings, but the Falcons did adjust to Albright's reliever to score an additional run in the sixth.
In their last offensive opportunity, the Falcons found themselves with a 4-0 lead and two outs, but the offensive fire was still burning. After an error by the leftfielder, Ammon ended up on second. In the next at-bat, Merkel drilled the ball into the left side gap, forcing the shortstop to make a tremendous play, but beat out the throw for a single. With runners on first and third, Schell singled to score Ammon and move Merkel to third. Singles from sophomore Sara Dietrich and senior
Lauren Seneca drove in the final two runs that sealed the deal for the Falcons.
Dietrich threw six solid innings for Messiah, holding the Lions to only six hits, while striking out four and walking only one to earn her sixth win of the season. Freshman
Mallory Rutledge allowed two hits in the seventh, but bore down to close out the game and maintain the shutout.
“Our pitching was really great overall,” Weaver said. “Sara [Dietrich] and Jocelyn [Hickey] got their sixth wins today and threw really well.”
Hickey moved to 6-2 on the season after throwing all seven innings of game two, allowing five runs on six hits and striking out three.
The Falcons' offense scored an early run in the first inning, but broke things open in the fourth to tack on four more runs. Ammon, Schell, and L. Seneca all doubled, while Merkel, seniors
Abi Buchler and
Ashley Lehman added singles in Messiah's six-hit inning.
After adding another run in the fifth, the Falcons were in the driver's seat, but the Lions wouldn't go away easily.
In the bottom of the seventh, a one-out walk, passed ball, and a defensive error put Messiah in a precarious position. The Lions struck while the iron was hot to score four runs on two singles and two doubles. The Falcons stayed strong and closed out the inning and the game with a fly-out to center field for the 6-5 win.
“We were in control of that game up until the very end,” Weaver said. “Jocelyn [Hickey] threw well and deserved the win, but we let them back in because of a few mistakes. We should have been out of that inning numerous times, but we just kept digging ourselves into a hole.”
Despite the final inning frenzy, the Falcons walked away with two critical wins and an unblemished conference record.
Messiah will look to continue their winning ways in the upcoming week as they host York College, Lebanon Valley College and Lycoming College. The Falcons get things started with the Spartans of York College at 3:00 p.m. on Monday.
