ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – Eastern Softball battled to a series split with visiting King's College on Saturday afternoon claiming the first game 4-3 but coming up just short in the second 8-6. The Eagles honored their two seniors
Kasey Williams and
Erin Johnson as well who have given four outstanding years to the Eastern Softball program.
In game one Eastern (8-18, 3-7 MAC Freedom) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and behind the arm of
Haleigh Williams held on for an exciting 4-3 victory.
"Haleigh pitched a great game for us today," said Head Coach
Claire Emplit. "She faced some adversity but battled back to help earn an exciting and important win."
After leading off with a walk to start the bottom half of the first inning, Kasey Willams, fittingly, scored the games opening run to give the Eagles the 1-0 advantage.
Kelsey Clever singled later in the inning driving in
Alyssa Welsh to stretch the lead to 2-0 after one.
King's (14-12, 5-3 MAC Freedom) came back, however, blasting a solo home run to trim the Eagles lead to just one in the third inning. The Monarchs would homer again in the fourth inning to tie the game at 2-2.
Clever singled to start the bottom half of the fourth inning and would score on a
Leah Lozzi groundout to give Eastern the lead at 3-2. King's would once again tie the game up in the top of the fifth but just like before the Eagles weren't phased and retook the lead. K. Williams would score the go-ahead and eventual game-winning run when
Taylor Crown reached on an error by the shortstop to make it 4-3.
H. Williams took over from there and was brilliant down the stretch. She surrendered only three hits over the final two innings of play and never let a baserunner advance past second. For the game H. Williams went seven innings, allowing only five hits and three runs while recording one strikeout and 12 fly outs to earn her fourth win of the season.
"I think this game showed the fight in our girls who never give up and always battle no matter what," continued Emplit. "To have a lead, lose the lead, have it again, and once again lose it that can take a lot out of you but they fought back each time and found a way to get the win."
In game two it was King's who jumped out to the early lead and rallied to split the series. Eastern managed to rally back and take a brief lead but couldn't sustain the momentum and hold on for the victory.
After the Monarchs had taken an early 5-0 lead in the first three innings of play, the Eagles began to chip away at the lead.
In the bottom of the third inning,
Alyssa Bolger and K. Williams each singled to give Eastern runners on first and second with one out. Welsh would then single to plate both runners to cut the deficit to just three, 5-2. Then in the bottom of the sixth, the Eagles would take their first lead since the fifth inning of game one after scoring four runs. Three straight singles loaded the bases for Mellisa Irick who walked in a run to make it 5-3. K. Williams would give Eastern the lead two batters later when she singled to center to score both Irick and
Olivia Heffinger to make the score 6-5 heading into the final inning of play.
"Once again we saw the toughness out of our girls to get back in the game when they were trailing early," stated Emplit. "We stayed tough and chipped away to get back in the game, but we just couldn't do enough to hold on to the lead."
Eastern was just three outs away from a series sweep, but three runs by King's made it an 8-6 game and the score final as the Monarchs would hold for the win.
K. Williams finished the day 4-6 with two RBI's and scored three runs.
"It will be tough to lose two seniors who have meant so much to this program," concluded Emplit. "I may have only gotten to coach them for a season but they mean the world to me and through their efforts they have helped me make this team and program better."
Eastern travels to Widener on April 18th for an out of conference doubleheader starting at 4:30 pm.
