DALLAS, Pa.—Needing just one win to reach the Freedom Conference Tournament entering Saturday's game, Eastern University Softball ended up sweeping the Misericordia University Cougars to move into second place in the conference standings and lock up a spot in the tournament.
Eastern, now 9-3 in conference, swept Misericordia on the road 7-1, 8-7. Misericordia dropped to 9-3 in conference with the losses and are now behind the Eagles because of the head-to-head tiebreaker. Eastern will enter the conference postseason for the first time since 2012.
Eagles' center fielder Ashton Tomlinson had a day. The sophomore batted 7-for-9 with six RBIs, including three on a home run to left field in the second inning of game two.
Haleigh Williams dominated from the circle to earn her sixth win of the season. The sophomore recorded eight of the possible 21 outs with strike outs while only allowing four hits.
The Eagles collected 10 hits, primarily from the top of the lineup. Erica Pyla-Gibson and Karlee Kerchersky eached batted 2-for-3, and Tomlinson went 3-for-4 from the plate.
Kerchersky batted in the first two runs of the game with a single to center field in the top of the first. Emily Houck batted in Pyla-Gibson in the third with a single after Pyla-Gibson doubled to leadoff the inning. The Eagles tacked on another run as Tomlinson scored on a fielder's choice.
Tomlinson doubled down the left field line in the fourth inning to plate Pyla-Gibson and Deanna Laughman.
Misericordia scored its lone run in the bottom of the fourth on a productive ground out. Eastern added a run in the seventh on an infield single by Kerchersky.
In the bottom of the seventh, Misericordia didn't go down without a fight and loaded the bases with no one out. Williams proceeded to strike out the next two batters and got the final batter to fly out with no damage done.
Eastern needed an extra inning to settle the score in game two. The Eagles appeared to be in good shape after jumping to a 6-0 lead in the first two innings. Tomlinson clubbed her three-run home run in the second inning, her first of the season. Eastern has hit 13 homers as a team this year.
Misericordia scored twice in the bottom third on an error and a ground out. Neither team could cross the plate of the next three innings.
Eagles' pitcher Kristen Waters had a great line going and was one out away from collecting the win. She had no earned runs through the first 6.2 innings and had had three 1-2-3 innings. However, after getting the first two outs of the seventh, Waters ran into some trouble. The next two batters reached, and Misericordia's Sam Hare brought them all home with a three-run homer. Eastern's lead had been trimmed to 6-5, but Misericordia knotted it up with a home run by Kristi Seiler, the next batter, and forced extra innings.
Jackie DiGiacomo started the inning with a single up the middle, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, advanced to third on a single by Pyla-Gibson and finally scored on Tomlinson's single to left. Pyla-Gibson then scored an important insurance run on an infield error.
Meagan Quinn took the circle in the bottom of the 8th and earned the save. She retired the first two batters, allowed an unearned run, but retired the final batter with a ground out to third.
Eastern (11-17, 9-3 Freedom) hosts Franklin & Marshall University in a non-conference doubleheader on Thursday at 3 p.m.
