Marauders Hang On For Game Two Win, Split with Golden Bears

Friday, April 5

Millersville, PA

2:30 PM

Millersville University

21-8, 1-2

Kutztown

12-15, 2-3

Kutztown

Millersville

Marauders Hang On For Game Two Win, Split with Golden Bears

4/5/2013 8:55:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Millersville, Pa. – The Marauders couldn't get anything going in the first game of Friday's doubleheader against Kutztown at home, dropping a 3-0 decision. The bats came alive in the second game to help Millersville outslug and outlast the Golden Bears, 8-7. With the split, the team's record now stands at 22-8 overall and 2-2 in PSAC East play.

Forget about scoring runs, the Marauders barely managed a hit against Golden Bear starter Dominique Ficara in the opening game of the two-game set. Ficara took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning, which was broken up by a Danielle DiFilippo single with one out. Two batters later, Gabbie Berry delivered the team's only other hit of the game.

Kutztown got its runs off game one starter Sarah Bertoni in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively. The Golden Bears opened put the first run of the game on the board in the fifth when Jess Kurtz scored on a Morgan Booth sacrifice groundout. The Golden Bears added two more insurance runs in the sixth on a Bri Knipe RBI single and Kurtz's fielder's choice. In her complete game effort, Bertoni allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits and three walks while striking out five, but dropped her record to 11-4.

Game two presented an opportunity with Ficara taking the circle again. Millersville beat up on Ficara as the team picked up its first win over Kutztown since Apr. 2011, snapping a skid of five consecutive losses to the Golden Bears. The Marauders chased the hurler after four innings during which she surrendered seven runs (five earned).

After waiting until the second-to-last out of game one to manage a hit off Ficara, Millersville got right to work in the second game, putting a trio of runs on the board on a pair of hits. The Marauders scored first when Jamie Motsko's sacrifice groundout brought home Jordan Sheffield, and an Ashley Cantiello sacrifice groundout produced another run in the next at-bat. The third run of the inning came on the second hit of the frame, when Stephanie Kulp punched a single through the right side to score Berry.

The Golden Bears pulled within 3-2 over their next two at-bats, plating a run each in the top half of the second and third innings. Millersville would have no part of Kutztown's rally, as the home team responded with a run in the third and three more in the fourth to swell the lead to 7-2. Cantiello's second RBI groundout sent home DiFilippo in the bottom half of the third, and the Marauders got two of their three runs in the fifth on DiFilippo's one-out, two-run single that scored Bertoni and Brittany Shoemaker.

The Marauders added an insurance run in the fifth on a Bertoni single. Good thing too, as it spotted starter Brianna Andraos a six-run lead (8-2), and the freshman would need all the runs her offense could provide. The Golden Bears struck for two runs in the sixth to pull within 8-4, but really made the game a nail biter in the seventh and final frame. After bringing home three runs to pull within a run, the Golden Bears left the bases loaded to end the game when Andraos got Danielle Sienko to strike out swinging, giving Millersville its second divisional win of the year.

Andraos' win in game two improves her record on the season to 8-2. The loss in game one snapped a four-game winning streak for the Marauders, but the team responded with a win, its 22^nd of the season. That total already eclipses last year's mark of 19 wins for the entire season, and Millersville still has 20 games to play on 2013's schedule.

The next two are big ones; the Marauders play first-place Shippensburg Saturday afternoon. Game one of the twinbill begins at 1 p.m. from the Millersville Softball Field. After playing the Raiders at home tomorrow, the team plays 10 of its next 12 games on the road.