SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. –  The Marauders entered Friday afternoon looking to break into the top five in the PSAC East Divisional standings and pull even with the Bloomsburg Huskies.  They did just that with a comfortable sweep of the Shepherd Rams. The bats did their part in game one with an eight run seventh inning while Morgan Crutcher dealt a complete game to secure the victory in the nightcap. 

GAME ONE:
Millersville got its first run in the second inning and added four more in the third. A Kendra Bumgardner single started the frame and Aleese Angelo followed with a double down the right field line to bring her home. One batter later, Gabby D'Ottavio doubled down the same boundary to bring two more runs across and push the lead to 4-0. It was her thirteenth hit in the last nine games and she's been heating up of late, something that head coach Jen Probst has noticed. "Gabby is locked in and taking some of her best swings of the year," Probst said. "She's competing in the box every time."
 
Alex Schaefer got the start in the circle and held the Rams scoreless through four innings before allowing two runs in the fifth and sixth. Angelina Saverase came in in relief with nobody out in the sixth inning and got the Marauders out of the inning with the lead intact. 
 
As it turned out, that wouldn't matter, as Millersville tallied eight runs on six hits in the top of the seventh. The Marauders would finish with 13 runs on ten hits. They got on base ten times without the use of a hit with six walks and three hit batters. 

GAME TWO:
Game two was the Crutcher show, as she tossed her first complete game of the season without allowing an earned run. The only blemish came in the fifth inning after she had retired 10 straight Rams. She held Shepherd without a hit until that fifth inning, when the leadoff hitter reached on an infield single. That runner would later score the Rams' only tally of the game. Crutcher finished with seven strikeouts and four hits allowed on the day. 
 
The Marauders got on the board in the top of the fourth. A walk and a hit batter put two on for Marli Schreiner, who delivered with a double to bring home the game's first run. Victoria Fuss later singled for the go-ahead run. After Shepherd cut the lead to one in its next at-bat, Millersville put up two more tallies in the top of the fifth for the final score of 4-1. 

GAME NOTES

• After Bloomsburg got swept by East Stroudsburg earlier today, the Marauders are now tied with the Huskies for the fifth and final playoff spot. Millersville needs at least a split tomorrow to make the playoffs depending on the result of Kutztown's doubleheader against Shippensburg, but a sweep would seal the deal. 
• Angelo is on the cusp of two more Marauder records. She's sitting at 138 career runs scored, three shy of the record of 141 held by Lindsay Hosier. For the season, the backstop has 67 hits, three short of the single-season record of 70 set by Brittany Smith in 2017. 
• The Marauders scored 17 runs on the day without the benefit of a home run. 

POSTGAME REACTION FROM HEAD COACH JEN PROBST

• On Crutcher's performance: "Morgan did a great job mixing speeds, hitting spots and working ahead on batters."
•  On the team's mentality heading into tomorrow: "Tomorrow we are going to work just like any other day one inning at a time."

UP NEXT

• Millersville's season will come down to the final doubleheader of the campaign. The Marauders host Bloomsburg on April 26 with game one beginning at 1 p.m.