Millersville, Pa. – The Millersville University softball team won two nail-biter victories against Shepherd in the season opening doubleheader at Seaber Softball Stadium Sunday afternoon. The Marauders were victorious in game two 12-11 on a walk-off wild pitch with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Led by some heavy hitting, the Marauders claimed a 12-10 victory in game one.
Millersville recorded more than 11 hits in each game and totaled five home runs.
Sophomore
Emma Bevard picked up both victories on the mound. Bevard was one of the four pitchers to step on the mound. She totaled seven innings, giving up five runs while striking out three.
Head coach
Jen Probst earned her 200
th career victory in game one.
GAME 1
The pivotal inning was the bottom of sixth when the Marauders scored six runs. Freshman
Faith Willenbrock led the charge with a hit over the left fielder's reach and sped to third base. The triple drove in two and tied the game at 8-8. Later in the inning, senior
Megan McCurdy and sophomore
Macy Koontz reached first base on fielder's choice and drove in runs. Junior
Morgan Almodovar reached second on an error while two runs scored, giving Millersville a 12-8 lead.
The Marauders gave up up two runs in the top of the seventh but Bevard held off the Rams to seal the win.
In the bottom of the fourth, down by two, Koontz hit a bomb to right-center to cut the deficit to 6-5. It was Koontz's first collegiate home run.
The first home run of the season for the Marauders went to sophomore
Rebecca Blatt who drilled her first career grand slam in the third that helped to erase an early 5-0 deficit.
GAME 2
With the score tied at 11-11 and two outs in the bottom of the seventh, freshman
Allie Janowiak scored the winning run on a wild pitch.
Janowiak reached base on a two-out error and raced to third when leadoff hitter Devan Mascuilli singled to right. Senior
Raeann Buskey worked the count to three balls, and the fourth skipped to the backstop, allowing Janowiak to race home from third with the game-winning run.
Millersville raced to a 5-0 lead in the first inning, helped by
Megan McCurdy's three-run home run. But in the third, Shepherd scored 11 runs on nine hits and three walks.
Faith Willenbrock hit a solo blast to in the fourth to make the score 11-9. In the fifth, Millersville evened the score in the sixth on RBI singles from Janowiak and Buskey.
Willenbrock went 3 for 4 with three runs and a RBI. McCurdy and Murphy both drove in three.
NEXT UP
The Marauders travel to Jefferson for a doubleheader on Tuesday, March 6. First pitch is at 2 p.m.
