PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – In a season that has already been highlighted by many milestones and career-best performances, Aleese Angelo added one more to that list Sunday afternoon. With a bases clearing double in game one, she became Millersville softball's all-time leader in runs batted in. The Marauders ended up taking that contest 8-0 in five innings before being blanked 5-0 in the nightcap.
 
GAME ONE:
Kendra Bumgardner, fresh off of obtaining hit number 100 against Bowie State, led off the game with a single. She advanced to second on a wild pitch as Angelo stepped to the plate for the first time. The soon-to-be runs batted in leader neared one closer with a single through the left side. 
 
Millersville's bats remained quiet until a fourth inning onslaught put the game out of reach. Victoria Fuss brought home the guests' second run of the afternoon with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly. Millersville head coach Jen Probst elected to go with the bat of Hailey Watlington up next, and she came through. Her infield single scored a run and put runners on the corners with two outs for Bumgardner, who recorded the Marauders' fourth single of the inning to score another run. An error on the next play loaded the bases and set the stage for Angelo once again. 
 
Down to her final strike, the former All-American ripped a pitch down the left-field line and out of the reach of the diving left fielder. All three runs would score, giving Angelo 140 runs batted in for her career and breaking the all-time mark set by Faith Willenbrock in 2021. It also gave the visitors a 7-0 lead, which would become the final tally of 8-0 after scoring once more in the top of the fifth.
 
Despite the offensive explosion, the Marauders only needed one run to win this game due to the efforts of Morgan Crutcher, Angelina Saverase and Nicolina Pezzone, who combined for five shutout innings. Crutcher tossed the first three frames and claimed her first win of the season while Saverase and Pezzone each threw one in relief. The only blemish on any of their records was an infield single clubbed by the first batter of the game. The trio recorded the next fifteen batters in order en route to the shutout. Saverase needed just seven pitches to get her three outs and Pezzone struck out the side to end the game.

GAME TWO:
The second affair was much different than the first. It was the Rams who struck first, scoring two runs in the bottom of the third off of Millersville starter Alex Schaefer. In turn, the Marauders were kept off the board for the first six innings. As a team, they tallied four hits, half of them from Angelo. One bright spot was that the lack of offense was not due to swing and miss, as they recorded just 4 strikeouts on the day. 
 
Schaefer was strong through five, allowing five hits and just the two runs. She ran into trouble in the sixth and was relieved after allowing two runners to reach base with one out. Saverase took over after that, but three runs scored before the inning was complete. The Marauders couldn't muster a comeback in their final at-bat and fell 5-0. 
 
GAME NOTES

• Angelo becomes the Marauders' all-time leader in runs batted in for a career with 140. She breaks the record of 139 set by Faith Willenbrock in 2021. The senior has a chance to make more history in the coming games, as she's five away from Heather Lutz's career doubles record of 53. 
• With her run scored in the fourth inning of game one, Turner becomes just the ninth Marauder to reach 100 runs scored in her career. Turner could be the next to pass Willenbrock's runs batted in total, as she currently has 119 for her career; that ranks fourth in Millersville history. 

POSTGAME REACTION FROM HEAD COACH JEN PROBST

• Overall takeaways: "Today was frustrating because it felt as if two different teams showed up for games one and two. Morgan, Angelina and Nicolina combined for a great game one in the circle. Aleese and Gabi were on base a lot in both games but we just couldn't score them. We played great defense all day and are looking to continue that into conference play."

UP NEXT

• The Marauders enter conference play at West Chester on March 19 at 2 p.m.