Marauders Take Game One; Fall in Game Two to Split with KU

Friday, April 19

Kutztown, PA

1 PM

Millersville University

26-15, 4-7

Kutztown

22-19, 6-5

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Millersville	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	6	0
Kutztown	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	1

Marauders Take Game One; Fall in Game Two to Split with KU

4/19/2013 4:35:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Kutztown, Pa. – Friday's doubleheader for the Millersville softball team was a chance to keep a win streak going as the Marauders rolled into Kutztown with two consecutive victorie. But the games were even more important with the team facing a PSAC East foe, and Millersville took advantage in the first game, defeating the Golden Bears by a 1-0 score. The back end of the day's action halted the Marauders winning streak, as they lost 5-2.

The road team gutted out a game one win on the back of Sarah Bertoni's complete game shutout. It was Bertoni's eighth shutout of the year, tying her for the PSAC lead. The win was also the 14^th of the year for the sophomore hurler, improving her mark on the season to 14-7. That victory sets a new program record for wins in a single season by one pitcher.

Danielle DiFilippo picked up an offense that managed just six hits total. The sophomore second baseman went 3-for-4 at the dish with a double and an RBI, knocking in the game-winning run in the top half of the seventh inning with the game tied at 0-0. A pitcher's duel for the entirety of the seven frames, Bertoni took care of the Golden Bears in their at-bats, limiting the home team to just four hits and a walk while fanning three batters.

Before the seventh, Millersville had its chances. The Marauders left two on at the end of the fourth, when Jamie Motsko and Ashley Cantiello put together a two-out rally with a walk and a single, respectively. Kutztown starter Dom Ficara ended the threat by getting Bertoni to ground out to end the inning. Millersville had another chance in the sixth, as DiFilippo led off with a double to center. After moving DiFilippo to third on a sacrifice bunt, the offense stalled again as Motsko and Cantiello were retired in order to end the inning.

Millersville broke through in the seventh by taking advantage of a Kutztown error. Bertoni singled to lead off the inning, then advanced to third when Brittany Shoemaker dropped down a bunt to the catcher. Golden Bear backstop Katie Lynch came up firing wildly, putting runners on first and third with no outs. After a hit batter loaded the bases, Ficara put herself in a jam she couldn't wriggle out of, and DiFilippo played hero dropping a single into right field to score Bertoni from third for the winning run.

For all the good the Marauders did in game one by making up a game in the PSAC East standings on Kutztown, it was all undone in the second game, as the Golden Bears broke the game open with a big fly, handing starter Brianna Andraos a loss in a complete game effort that saw her yield five earned runs on nine hits and two walks.

Jordan Sheffield and Gabbie Berry each had two hits for the Marauder offense. The Millersville attack was more potent in game two, managing eight hits off Kutztown starter Mary Kociencki. The Marauders put the first run on the board in the game, as Bertoni reached on the first of two Golden Bear errors in the contest. Moving up two bases on successful back-to-back sacrifice groundouts, the sophomore came around to score on Ginely Ortiz-Marrero's bunt single toward the first base side.

After the Golden Bears answered with a run in their half of the second inning to tie the game at one, they took the lead an inning later and would not look back. A bunt single put the first runner on, but Andraos looked as though she was going to be able to retire the side, getting the next two batters out. The freshman then got wild, hitting Lynch to put two on with two outs. On the second pitch of the next at-bat, Nicole Henninger unloaded a three-run bomb off Andraos that put Kutztown up 4-1.

Millersville punched back for a run in the top half of the fourth, when Sheffield took Kociencki deep to right for her fourth homer of the season. The back-and-forth scoring was done there, as the Golden Bears put the final run of the game for either team on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning by playing small ball after a leadoff double. That made the score 5-2, and Millersville's offense could not put another run across over the final three innings.

The split brings the Marauders' record to 26-16 on the season, 4-8 in PSAC East action. Saturday, Millersville ends a brutal eight-game road stretch at Mercyhurst in non-divisional play. That doubleheader beings at 1 p.m. The team returns home next Tuesday for its first home set in 10 days as the Marauders host Georgian Court in a 4 p.m. start time.