MILLERSVILLE, Pa. — The Millersville Marauders came within two outs of giving No. 11 East Stroudsburg hurler Sarah Davenport her first loss of the season, but the visitors rallied and eventually took the first game of Friday's conference doubleheader 6–1 in eight innings. The Warriors also won the second game, a 6–3 battle that secured their sweep. Despite the sweep, Marauders head coach
Jen Probst was encouraged by her team's performance against a nationally ranked opponent.
"Davenport's a great pitcher," Probst said postgame. "For us to go out there, get a bunch of base runners, execute and get an earned run off her was really exciting. Our pitchers also did a good job of stepping up and keeping us in the game. So, I'm excited–I'm excited to play them again, and I'm excited to play tomorrow."
Davenport came into the game with a 16–0 record and a miniscule .77 earned run average on the season. It was a tall task for a Marauder lineup that's been scuffling in recent days, but the 'Ville nine was up to the challenge. Millersville's pitching did its job through the first six innings;
Angelina Saverase and
Delaney Troxell combined to shut the Warriors out and struck out eight batters (Saverase with three, Troxell with five).
Millersville's lineup totaled four hits off Davenport but made the sophomore work throughout, grinding out five walks; three of those were due to the patience of
Hailey Watlington. Watlington worked the pitcher hard in all four of her plate appearances. She eked out a 10-pitch walk to lead off the second, an eight-pitch walk in the fourth and a seven-pitch walk in the sixth. That fourth inning walk ended up being the Marauders' lone run, driven in by
Angelina Edwards' RBI single up the middle. Patience at the dish was something that the team discussed heavily when game planning for East Stroudsburg's vaunted pitching staff.
"Coming in, we had a plan on what we were going to look for and what we were going to lay off of," Probst said of the team's approach. "Obviously, we did a really good job at that. She (Davenport) had to throw a ton of pitches for that win. We were able to get a bunch of walks, which I think was really helpful to put some pressure on them (the Warriors)."
It was a three-base error with one out in the top of the seventh that brought the Warriors back to life. That runner would later score to push the game into extras, where the visitors blew the game open with an eighth-inning grand slam.
The Marauders were also stymied by East Stroudsburg's pitching in the nightcap, going down 6–1 before
Cara Mazzucco's sixth-inning two-RBI single cut the deficit to two. There it would stand, however; Davenport was called on once more after throwing 157 pitches in game one and mowed down the next four batters for the save.
Not to be lost in the shuffle was the debut of freshman pitcher
Rebecca Opperman, who gave the Marauders a scoreless seventh inning in game two.
Jocelyn Langer extended her on-base streak to 28 games with hits in both contests, and Edwards added one more RBI to her Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference leading total of 38.
Millersville softball is back in action at Seaber Softball Stadium on March 29 against Bloomsburg. The games are slated to begin at 1 and 3 p.m.
