ST. DAVIDS, Pa.— The formula was a little different, but the result was the same as Eastern University Softball improved to 8-0 in the MAC Commonwealth with a pair of high-scoring wins over the visiting Alvernia University Golden Wolves. The Eagles (19-5, 8-0) rallied from a late deficit to win, 8-7, in the opener and walked off a 13-4 win in the nightcap.
Sydney Ostolaza hammered a three-run shot in the bottom of the sixth inning to end the day.
Alvernia's Brooke Hauck hit two home runs, including a fifth-inning grand slam, to give the visitors a 7-4 lead heading to the bottom of the sixth. The Golden Wolves seemed poised to pick up their first win over Eastern since 2021.
In the bottom of the sixth,
Jania Long singled to second, and
Danika Barthol walked. Ostolaza hit another infield single to load the bases for
Maura Yoos. The rookie shortstop singled through the left side to drive in two,
Ainsley O'Donnell doubled to left center to put the Eagles up.
Barthol (8-2), who picked up her 200th career strikeout early in the game, struck out the first two hitters in the seventh and got a fly ball out to end the game. The sophomore struck out ten on the way to her eighth win of the season. The sophomore is now fourth on Eastern's career strikeout list.
Yoos, who at the end of the day is hitting .650 in league games, drove in the first two Eastern runs of the game with a bases-loaded double in the second. Ostoloza scored from third on a wild pitch to put the Eagles up 3-2.
Mackenzie Laub homered to left in the third to give the Eagles a 4-2 edge before the Golden Wolves scored five times in the fifth.
Alvernia (14-14, 2-6) picked up an unearned run in the first inning of the nightcap and held that lead until the bottom of the third inning. Laub reached on a two-base error and scored on a sharp single from
Emily Kurth.
Jania Long then hit a two-out two-run homer to right that reached Gulph Creek on the fly.
The Eagles then stretched that lead to 9-1 with six runs on four hits in the bottom of the fourth. The Eastern rally started with one down. Yoos chopped a perfect swinging bunt for an infield and moved along when O'Donnell walked.
Alyssa Binczak drove in one with a single and Laub drove home two with a double. Laub eventually scored on fielders choice and the Eagles got two more runs on errors to build the eight run edge.
Alvernia, unwilling to go quietly, fought off the run-rule finish with three runs in the top of the fifth. The first three Alvernia hitters reached safely to bring Eastern's bullpen into play.
Bryn Clifford. After a ground ball single to plate the third run, the junior reliever retired three of the next four hitters to get out of the jam. Clifford recorded the final six outs to preserved the win. She continued her impressive string of innings without allowing a walk. Dating back to last spring, Clifford has thrown 32.1 consecutive innings sins allowing a walk. Her 26.2 innings without allowing a walk is the most by any pitcher this year.
The Eagles converted a Biczak double into a run on another Kurth single in the fifth. Kurth has 25 RBIs through her first 24 college games.
After Clifford worked a scoreless sixth, Sophie Vento laced a single to left to start the bottom of the inning.
Dakota Owen slapped a single to right to set up Ostolaza's big blast to walk off the game. The junior third baseman hit a no-doubter to left center for her first homer of the year. She hit seven homers last spring.
When the two squads met last year, the Golden Wolves scored only two runs in 21 innings. While the Easten pitching dominated last year, the offense, in most cases has carried its weight this year. With Kurth and Yoos combining for 58 hits, the Eagles are hitting .335 as a team and are scoring over six runs per game.
The Eagles are at Neumann University on Wednesday at 3:00.
