April 30, 2009

Softball Advances to Day 2 of CACC Tournament with 5-4 Win

Lakewood, NJ- The Philadelphia University softball team (24-20, 13-11 CACC) advanced to the second day of CACC Softball Tournament play with a 5-4 win over Wilmington University after falling to the Bloomfield College Deacons in the first game.

The Lady Rams will face the loser of #1 Dominican/#4 Georgian Court at 12:00 p.m. tomorrow (5/1) on Field 2. 

"This is a historic day for our program, the team showed a lot of character to come back from one deficit and then win it in the seventh inning," said Head Coach John Kelly.  I'm looking forward to tomorrow; the team will go as far as they want to." 

In the first game vs. Bloomfield, junior outfield Maggie Desmond (Bayport, NY/ St. John the Baptist) blasted a lead-off homer to open the top of the second inning and give the Rams a 1-0 boost.

In the bottom of the sixth BC junior third baseman Kira Wagar hit a two-run homer to edge the Deacons ahead 2-1, the final score.

Freshman pitcher Ali Schmidt (Cordova, MD/ Easton) had nine strikeouts in six innings, while BC hurler Brianne Moore had seven strikeouts in the win.

In the second game vs. Wilmington the Wildcats took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning on a homer by Amanda Cordrey.  The Lady Rams responded in the second with an RBI single from junior first baseman Kelly Rauco (Nutley, NJ/ Nutley) to close the gap 2-1.

The Wildcats got another run on the board in the top of the third inning on a hit by Lindsay Friye. 

PhilaU got hot in the bottom of the third inning as freshman catcher Katie Renner (Berryville, VA/ Brunswick) lined a double to the left field fence to score junior outfielder Kristyn Loughery (Phoenixville, PA/ Phoenixville) and M. Desmond smacked a double to score two more runs and give the Lady Rams their first lead of the day at 4-3.

WU tied it up in the seventh on a single to center field, but Rauco brought in the winning run on an error by the Wildcat second baseman to take the 5-4 win and advance to the second day of CACC Softball Tournament. 

Schmidt went seven complete innings and sat down nine batters in the win.