Renner’s Grand Slam Lifts Softball 10-0 over East Stroudsburg
Philadelphia, PA- Sophomore catcher Katie Renner (Berryville, VA/ Brunswick) smacked a grand slam with two out in the bottom of the fifth for a mercy rule win in the second game of a doubleheader for the Philadelphia University Lady Rams (11-13, 5-5 CACC) against the East Stroudsburg University Warriors (16-21, 5-5 PSAC) on Thursday afternoon. ESU picked up a 16-4 victory in the early game, while PhilaU won it in five 10-0 in the second contest of the day.
In an error-laden first game, the Warriors banged out 14 hits to score 16 runs through five innings.
PhilaU scored their first run in the fourth inning on an RBI single from senior infielder Maggie Desmond (Bayport, NY/ St. John) to bring in Renner- who reached on an ESU fielding error.
ESU scored four runs in the first and added seven in the third-including a grand slam from Alicea Ashe. The Warriors would add five more runs through the fourth and fifth innings to make it 16-1.
The Lady Rams showed no quit, as they battled back to score three runs on two hits in the fifth helped by singles from freshman infielder Kacie DeMaio (Highland, NY/ Highland) and senior infielder Kristen Giamatteo (Bellmore, NY/ Wellington Mepham) to make the final 16-4 .
PhilaU senior pitcher Kelly Rauco (Nutley, NJ/ Nutley) went to 3-3 with the loss, while ESU’s Jen Battaglino got the win on the rubber.
In game two, PhilaU sophomore infielder Danielle Parisi (Teaneck, NJ/ WW-Plainsboro N.) smacked an RBI double to the left field fence to give the Lady Rams a 1-0 lead in the first. The next inning, Renner singled in a run to make it 2-0.
PhilaU added three runs in the bottom of the third on four hits, including sophomore outfielder Sara Romano’s (Harrisburg, PA/ Central Dauphin) RBI double, and in the fourth the home squad added another score on a Renner single to make it 6-0. Renner was the hero in the fifth inning as her two-out, fifth inning grand slam effectively ended the contest early in a 10-0 mercy rule drubbing.
Lady Ram sophomore hurler Ali Schmidt (Cordova, MD/ Easton) earned the win with nine strikeouts in five innings, while ESU’s Caitlin Monahan took the loss.
The Lady Rams return to action on Sunday (4/11) in a doubleheader vs. Molloy College (played at NYIT) at 12:00 p.m.
