ST. DAVIDS, Pa.—Eastern University Softball made a big step towards reaching the Freedom Conference postseason tournament by sweeping Wilkes University 9-4, 9-6 on Friday afternoon. The Eagles now need just one more win or one more loss by FDU-Florham to achieve their goal of playing in May.
Eagles' head coach Brittany Stroop tallied her 100th career victory in the process.
Eastern's bats remained hot and the Eagles registered double-digit hits in both games. Kasey Williams batted 6-for-7 in the doubleheader to lead the team. Sophomore catcher/designated player Karlee Kerchersky crushed her fifth home run of the week and sixth of the season in the game one win. Kerchersky and Williams each batted in four runs in the doubleheader.
Haleigh Williams earned her fifth win of the season while striking out six batters in six innings pitched.
The Eagles scored a run in the bottom of the first and then punished Wilkes with five runs in the second. Erica Pyla-Gibson knocked a bases-loaded double to bring home three runs. Kasey Williams and Kerchersky smacked RBI-singles later in the inning.
Wilkes finally got on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth with a two-run home run, but in the bottom of the inning, Eastern retaliated with a two-run jack by Kerchersky to centerfield to make it 8-2.
Wilkes scored a run in the fifth, but Eastern didn't let them gain any ground as Ashton Tomlinson knocked in Deanna Laughman. Wilkes scored one more in its last at-bats, but not enough to be threatening.
Eastern jumped to an early lead in game two again, but Wilkes kept the score a little tighter this time. The Eagles scored twice in the first inning. Kasey Williams whacked a triple to right field to score Tomlinson and then came home herself after an error on the relay toss.
Wilkes picked up three runs in the top of third for their first lead of the series after a sliding play by Tomlinson was ruled a hit, then an out and then back to a hit, but Eastern erased that brief Wilkes lead with three runs in each of the next two innings. Laughman sped home on a wild pitch, Kasey Williams batted in Pyla-Gibson and Emily Houck later scored on a failed pickoff move to give Eastern an 8-3 lead
Williams batted in another run in the bottom of the fourth, Houck hit a sac fly and Tomlinson snagged home after the catcher threw to first on a dropped third strike. Wilkes scored two on a homer in the fifth, but couldn't come closer than three runs.
Kristen Waters picked up the win, striking out four. Meagan Quinn notched the two-inning save.
Eastern (9-17, 7-3 Freedom) plays conference leader Misericordia at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
