ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – Eastern Softball was swept by visiting York College on Saturday afternoon by the final scores of 8-1 and 3-0. The Spartans used timely hitting and great pitching to slip past the Eagles and claim the victories.
In the first game of the doubleheader York (9-3) took a 4-0 lead before Eastern (3-7) could get on the board. In the second inning, Joanna Marmo hit a solo home run to left giving the Spartans an early 1-0 lead. A double by Katie Maloney in the fourth inning made it a 2-0 game. York would tack on two more runs in the top of the sixth inning after another solo home run this time by Courtney Gall followed by an RBI single by Ashley Werner stretched the lead to 4-0.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Eagles looked like they may rally and make a game out of it after all. Kelsey Williams reached on an error by the second baseman to lead off and give Eastern a base runner. A sacrifice bunt from
Morgan Burke followed by a ground by
Taylor Crown advanced K. Williams all the way to third.
Kelsey Clever then drove in K. Williams to cut the deficit to just 4-1. However, a fly out the very next at-bat ended the inning.
York's offense exploded in the top of the seventh inning, however, plating four runs to stretch its lead all the way to 8-1. After the leadoff batter reached base safely, a wild pitch would advance her to second with just one out in the inning. A throwing error followed by a wild pitch scored back-to-back runs for the Spartans extending their lead to 6-1. Two straight singles later in the inning plated two runs to make the score final at 8-1.
The second game of the afternoon was much more of a defensive battle and pitching duel. Both Courtney Martin and
Haleigh Williams pitched complete games for their teams.
After two scoreless innings, York finally broke through in the third. After getting the leadoff batter to strikeout, a walk followed by a passed ball advanced the runner to second. A single two batters later plated the first run of the game to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead. Marmo tallied her second home run of the day hitting a two-run homer the very next at-bat to stretch the lead and make the score final at 3-0.
Martin and the York defense took over from there allowing only two Eastern players to get past first base for the rest of the game. Martin also allowed only four hits from the third inning onward.
H. Williams finished the game allowing the three runs on seven hits while striking out five. Martin meanwhile finished the game allowing just five hits while striking out one and forcing 15 groundouts.
Eastern hosts Cabrini for a doubleheader on March 15th starting at 3 pm.
