Grantham, PA – No. 13 Messiah College hosted Widener University in a double-header Saturday afternoon in the final regular-season conference games of 2016. The games were originally scheduled to be played at Widener, but sustained and expected rainfall in the greater-Philadelpha area moved them to Messiah's home field. Widener played as the home team on the scoreboard.
 
Despite the change in venue the Falcons never skipped a beat, beating the Pride 8-1 and 9-4. With the sweep, the Falcons conclude the conference play with an undefeated record of 16-0 for the second year in a row.

Game One – Messiah College 8, Widener University 1
The Falcons took Game One of the double-header thanks to a relentless offense and another strong performance by pitcher Courtney Allen. The win pushed Messiah to 15-0 in the MAC Commonwealth, while Widener fell to 9-6.
 
Messiah scored first in the top of the second by way of a sac fly by Amber Bingaman. The run was unearned since Becky Notte, who had singled to lead off the frame, moved forward on the bases by way of an error on the Widener backstop.
 
The Falcons added two more runs in the third inning, with Brooke Pompeo's RBI triple being the highlight. She also scored the second run when she raced home after the Pride's left field decided to catch a long foul ball by Courtney Allen.
 
In the fourth inning Messiah doubled their lead thanks to five hits, including four singles. Erin Cressman started the rally with a one-out double, and both Amber Bingaman (RBI) and Sydney Boreman followed with singles. Boreman's 11-pitch at-bat was undoubtedly a key to the inning as she fouled off seven-straight pitches before lacing a single to left field. One out later, Carrie Fix and Brooke Pompeo each knocked RBI singles to make it 6-0.
 
Widener earned one run back in the bottom of the fourth by way of a long leadoff home run by Lauren DelRomano. But that would be all the Pride would get as Allen worked around four total hits and three walks.
 
As mentioned, Allen was terrific once again from the rubber as she went the distance to collect six strikeouts and push her record to 18-0.
 
Pompeo finished 3-4 with three RBI to lead the offense. Fix and Bingaman each added two hits and two RBI, respectively. Messiah finished with 12 total hits.

Game Two - Messiah 9, Widener 4
Game Two was riddled with defensive errors on both sides of the field, resulting in seven unearned runs between both teams. Despite the miscues, the Falcons came out on top with the win.
 
The Falcons were first to get on the board when Courtney Allen turned a two-out walk into a run. After getting the free pass, Allen moved to third on an error then scored on an RBI single from Amanda Jones.   
 
The Pride answered in the bottom of the frame when they took advantage of a throwing error by the Falcons' starting pitcher. Starter Madelyn Yannetti had runners on first and second with one out, but threw the ball away when she tried to get the lead runner at third. Two runs scored on the play, giving the Pride a 2-1 lead. 
 
The Falcons came up empty in the top of the third, yet the highlight of the frame came when Becky Notte drove a one-out double to right center. The hit, which initially seemed quite ordinary, was her 49th career double-- new program best; Notte's hit pushed her ahead of the previous record holder, Steph Schell, at 48. 
 
In the bottom of the third, Widener extended their lead posting a single run on two hits. The Pride's advantage was quickly erased when Yannetti hit a one-out, two-run homerun to left-center to equalize things at 3-3 in the top of the next inning.  
 
Becky Notte drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the fourth with a two-out single through the left side with Pompeo scoring on the play. After the tally, the Pride removed starter Alexis Schengrund and replaced her with Ally Horvath who was originally in left field. Horvath worked out of the jam despite an errant pitch that made its way to the backstop. Widener's catcher recovered quickly, getting Allen out at the plate for the final out of the frame. 
 
The Pride equalized in the bottom of the inning when Jones committed errors in back-to-back plays.  
 
Jones redeemed herself on the offensive end in top of the fifth, drawing a leadoff walk then moved to second with a stolen base. In the next at-bat Cressman laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt that allowed Jones to score from second. Sydney Boreman's RBI single later in the inning pushed the Falcons ahead 6-4.     
 
Messiah tacked on two more runs in the sixth, using two hits and an error to pull ahead 8-4. The Falcons weren't done, though, as they added a final run in the top of the seventh with Jones picking up the RBI.                                       

Yannetti (7-1) was strong from the pitcher's circle, giving up four runs (one earned) on six hits.  
 
The Pride gave the ball to two different pitchers with the loss going to Ally Horvath (6-4).  
 
The Falcons were powered by the offensive quartet of Fix, Jones, Bingaman, and Yannetti. All four hitters picked up two hits each, with Jones, Bingaman, and Yannetti also adding two RBI each.  
 
The Falcons have one more scheduled double-header before hosting the MAC Commonwealth Championship next weekend. They will play Dickinson College on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.