GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Messiah softball team had a tough day on the field as they were swept by Arcadia University falling 8-1 in the first game and 3-0 in game two. Offensively the Falcons struggled as they had just eight total hits on the day against two tough pitchers for the Knights and committed three errors on defense.
With the losses Messiah falls to 22-16 on the year and 12-4 in the conference. Arcadia moved to 18-12 overall and are 10-4 with two conference games against Albright next weekend. Those games will ultimately determine who will earn the No. 1 seed for the MAC Commonwealth Tournament in two weeks.
The Falcons are back on the field next Wednesday Apr. 25 when they travel to McDaniel College for two games beginning at 3:00 p.m.
Game One: Messiah 1, Arcadia 8
The last time these two teams played was last year in the conference tournament and it took 19 innings to determine a winner, with Messiah coming out on top, so fans were ready to watch two solid teams battle it out on the field. The Falcons scored the first run of the game in the second inning as
Erin Cressman singled to left field and was advanced on a sacrifice bunt by
Isabel Seise. The next hitter
Angie Stephano delivered a single to center field bringing home the only run of the game for Messiah.
Arcadia tied it up and took the lead 2-1 in the fifth inning after getting three hits off starting pitcher
Carrie Fix. After a quick at bat for Messiah, the Knights really broke it open in the sixth inning scoring six runs to go up 8-1.
Madelyn Yannetti entered to pitch in a tough spot with the bases loaded and with the score 4-1, Ashley Eckett hit a grand slam to clear the bases and that proved to be the dagger as Messiah wasn't able to make a comeback and suffered the loss.
Game Two: Messiah 0, Arcadia 3
Arcadia kept up the momentum from game one and scored quickly in the first inning when an error by
Joy Kolakowski allowed Kristin Cancelliere to reach base. With two outs, Cancelliere stole second and then was brought home by an RBI-single to center field from Hunter Schantz putting the Knights up 1-0.
The bottom of the third presented a scoring opportunity for Messiah as
Samantha Esper singled and after a pitching change by Arcadia,
Erin Cressman was up with two outs and two runners on, but unfortunately popped up to second base to end the inning. Another chance came in the fourth inning when
Madelyn Yannetti drew a walk and
Ashley Carroll singled with two outs, but pitcher Kylee Schwind retired the next Messiah batter by way of a ground out to second base.
Messiah left two more runners stranded in the fifth inning for a total of eight left on base in the game. With Arcadia leading 1-0 in the top of the seventh, they added two insurance runs off two hits and one error by Messiah to extend their lead 3-0. The Falcons were retired three-up-three-down in their final at-bat as the Knights earned the sweep.
