Game 1 Box Score I
Game 2 Box Score
Carlisle, PA - The Messiah College softball team picked up two wins Tuesday over non-conference opponent, Dickinson College. In Game One of the double-header, the Falcons' offense posted seven runs through the first four innings of play en route to the 9-1 win. Starting pitcher,
Claressa Mees (8-2) held the Red Devils (9-17) to only two hits and gave up only one walk.
Sarah Dietrich and
Stephanie Schell both picked up two hits and combined to bring in three runs.
Brooke Pompeo,
Becky Notte, and Schell each doubled, while Dietrich hit her third triple of the season.
The Falcons (18-10) got off to another quick start in Game Two, scoring three runs in the first inning. With the 3-0 lead, the score would remain unchanged until the top of the seventh when the Falcons added two more runs to extend their lead. In the bottom of the seventh, starting pitcher
Mallory Rutledge (8-4) retired Dickinson's final three batters to bring home the 5-0 victory - her first shut-out of the season.
Offensively, Schell went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Dietrich picked up her team-leading fourth triple to finish 2-for-3 with one RBI.
"We did a great job putting the ball in play today," head coach
Amy Weaver said. "We were aggressive when we got on-base and we made things happen. When they [Dickinson] started making errors, we knew we had to keep the pressure."
In fact, two of the Falcons' three runs in the first two innings were results of Red Devil errors. In the first,
Nicole Blantz singled and stole second to put herself in scoring position.
Brooke Pompeo delivered a sacrifice bunt that moved Blantz to third, yet an errant throw by the third baseman gave Pompeo the base and allowed Blantz to score. In the second inning,
Sarah Dietrich walked and stole second and was followed by
Stephanie Josepayt who singled. Both base runners moved up a bag with a stolen base to set the stage for
Claressa Mees, who reached on an error by the second baseman. Dietrich scored on the play for another unearned run.
In the top of the third, the Falcons' bats were blazing as Pompeo ripped a lead-off double into the outfield. After a ground out moved her to third, Dietrich knocked Pompeo in with a triple.
Claressa Mees was dominant in the circle throughout the first three innings of play. She faced 10 batters and gave up only one hit.
In the fourth inning, the Falcons manufactured three runs on three hits. After Mees walked to lead-off the inning,
Madelyn Coffey bunted her way on to base.
Courtney Allen continued the small game, pushing the ball to the first baseman who committed another error to load the bases. In the next at-bat,
Nicole Blantz slapped the ball to second for the first out of the inning and an RBI, her 11th of the season. Moments later, Pompeo laid down a spectacular bunt and Coffey broke for home on contact. The Red Devils' defense was stunned and failed to make a play, giving Messiah the 5-0 lead.
Stephanie Schell made it a 6-0 game with an RBI single that ended the scoring for the Falcons.
Messiah committed one of their two defensive errors in the bottom of the fourth, resulting in the sole run to be scored for the Red Devils. With two outs and runners on first and second, Denise Haines hit a high, fly ball just to the right of second base but miscommunication between Allen and Josepayt resulted in a dropped ball, allowing Dickinson to score.
Both teams failed to post runs in both the fifth and sixth innings, yet the Falcons strung together four hits in the top of the seventh to score two more runs. Back-to-back doubles by Notte and Schell (RBI) gave way to singles by Dietrich and
Natalie Fritz (RBI).
With the 9-1 victory,
Claressa Mees earned her sixth complete game win and moved to 8-2 on the season.
In Game Two, four hits and two errors resulted in three runs for the Falcons in the first inning of play. The next five innings saw very few batters reach the bases as the Falcons managed only three hits - a single by
Stephanie Schell, a double from
Lauren Smith, and a triple by
Sarah Dietrich - and the Red Devils only two.
In the top of the seventh, the Falcons broke the five inning scoring drought by doing what they do best - get the lead-off batter on base and find a way to score her.
Nicole Blantz took the lead-off spot, drew a walk, and quickly stole second base. In the next at-bat,
Brooke Pompeo's sacrifice bunt moved Blantz to third and it was
Becky Notte who grounded out to second base for her 28th RBI. The number five hitter,
Stephanie Schell, kept things going for the Falcons with a team-leading 13th double of the season. A single from Dietrich brought Schell home to end the scoring.
Starter
Mallory Rutledge retired the final three Dickinson batters in the bottom half of the inning for the shutout victory. In seven innings of work, Rutledge faced 24 batters and gave up only two hits, one walk, and struck out three.
Stephanie Schell led all hitters going 3-for-4 with a double, while
Sarah Dietrich and
Natalie Fritz both had two hits.
The Falcons will venture back into Commonwealth Conference play on Saturday when they host Elizabethtown College. The double-header will begin at 1:00 p.m.
