Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Wilmington, Del. – Entering Wednesday's doubleheader against Goldey-Beacom, Millersville softball made its living on the strength of the team's pitching so far this season. That aspect held up in game one against the Lightning, producing a 2-0 victory, but crumbled in the back end of the pair of games, as the team dropped game two, 8-7, on a walk-off hit.
 
Behind sophomore pitcher Sarah Bertoni's fifth complete game shutout of the year, the Marauders took game one of the day's doubleheader. The Nanticoke native's team-leading ERA shrunk to a miniscule 0.95 with the seven scoreless frames and she upped her record to 8-2, matching her win total from all of last season. Bertoni allowed just four hits and struck out six in getting the decision.
 
Millersville struck first, scoring on a Lightning error in the first inning. Second baseman Danielle DiFilippo, who reached base after being plunked by a pitch and advancing to second on a wild pitch, came around to score when third baseman Jamie Motsko reached base on a fielding error. After allowing two first-inning hits, Bertoni settled in, not allowing a base runner again until the seventh inning.
 
To help out Bertoni's cause, the Marauders put an insurance run on the board in the top of the seventh inning when Stephanie Kulp came home to score on Ginely Ortiz-Marrero's sacrifice fly. Bertoni had to be thankful her offense gave her that extra cushion, as she allowed the first two batters of the seventh to reach base with a single and a double, respectively.
 
After putting runners on second and third with no outs, Bertoni danced out of the jam and slammed the door shut, striking out the next two batters and inducing a fly out to end the game. The game one win improved the Marauders to 11 games north of .500 at 16-5, tying a season-best for wins over the .500 mark.
 
In game two, the Marauders jumped on Goldey-Beacom starter Courtney Dolson, chasing her after 3.1 innings pitched and grabbing a commanding 5-1 lead after the team's first four at-bats. In the first inning, catcher Gabbie Berry brought home the game's first run with an RBI groundout that scored Ortiz-Marrero. The Lightning answered in the bottom of the first, rallying to tie the game at one.
 
Just one game after the offense managed just six hits, the Marauder offense kept coming in the second game, as Millersville scored in each of the game's first five frames. The team brought home a run in the second when game two starter Brianna Andraos was caught stealing at second base. Andraos' rundown, however, allowed Cara Nance to score from third. In the third, Berry knocked in another run, singling home Ortiz-Marrero.
 
Millersville got two more runs on the board in the fourth when Ortiz-Marrero shot a double down the leftfield line with the bases loaded. Ortiz-Marrero's hit brought Andraos and Nance home and knocked Dolson from the circle. The Marauders, however, ran into trouble in the bottom half of the inning after taking what seemed to be a commanding 5-1 lead.
 
The Lightning offense, which had been stifled by Millersville pitching all game long, finally got to Andraos and reliever Amanda Wink in the bottom of the fourth inning. Goldey-Beacom rallied for four runs on three hits and a Millersville defensive miscue to tie the game at five. After the Lightning rally, the Marauders retook the lead in the top half of the fifth. Motsko led off with a double to deep center and scored when Ashley Cantiello turned on a pitch and knocked it down the right field line for a single.
 
The lead Cantiello gave Millersville was short-lived. Goldey-Beacom refused to go away, and took a 7-6 lead after scoring two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. But just when the Marauders looked dead in the water and down to their final out in the seventh, Nance punched a single through the left side which scored Berry from third and tied the game again at seven.
 
Because Millersville was away and fought so hard to tie the game, Goldey-Beacom still had a shot of its own in the bottom of the seventh inning and took advantage, winning in walk-off fashion. Bertoni, who came in to relieve Wink in the fifth, could not dance out of trouble for a second time in the same day.
 
The sophomore loaded the bases with one out on a single and back-to-back walks, then saw her record drop to 8-3 when she gave up her first run in 20.0 consecutive innings of work on a Michelle Foster single toward shortstop. The game two loss dropped the team's record to 16-6 on the season, while lifting the Lightning to 7-9 overall.
 
The Marauders next opponent is East Stroudsburg, which will signal the start of PSAC East games for the team. Millersville took three of four meetings from the Warriors last season and is 34-54 all-time against ESU. Friday's pair of games against the Warriors begins at 2:30 p.m.