March 18th, 2009

Lady Lions Softball Home Opener

Story by: Rhett Sheibley

MIDDLETOWN, PA - The Penn State Harrisburg Lady Lions softball team hosted their first game of the 2009 season on March 18th. The Blue and White opened there home season with a double header against the Red Devils of Dickinson College. Having struggled a bit on the road to start the season the Lady Lions were eager to play at home and try to get a little momentum going.

Game one of the double header started out very promising for the Lady Lions as senior Erika Sorenson (Red Land/York, PA) took the mound and retired the side in order. Rachel Vettori (Palmyra/Palmyra, PA) then led off the bottom of the first with a single and advanced to second base on a throwing error. Sorenson then advanced the runner to third on a well directed ground ball and two batters later Krystal Miranda (Bound Brook/Bound Brook, NJ) hit a towering fly ball that was deep enough to score Vettori from third to give the Lady Lions a 1-0 lead. The score was the same entering the top of the third inning. Jess Hackler got the first hit of the game for the Red Devils with a blooper that dropped in center, and the speedy Hackler stretched it into a double. Jen Walsh then lined out and advanced Hackler to third base, setting the table for leadoff hitter Kyrie Budnik. Budnik smacked a double which scored Hackler evening the score at 1-1, but the Red Devils where far from finished. Erin King got a perfect bunt single down, and Ari Coulter then singled in Budnik. Two batters later Madison Gerish opened the flood gates with a bases loaded single that scored two more Red Devils. The Red Devils tacked on a few more and left the inning with a 6-1 lead. Dickinson Pitcher Elizabeth Barry really settled into the game and the Lady Lions struggled to get anything going. Penn State Harrisburg were only able to muster two more hits the rest of the game and the Red Devils tacked on three more insurance runs to make the final score 9-1. Erin King finished the game 2-3 with a triple and RBI and Madison Gerish was 2-4 with 2 RBI´s. Miranda had the only RBI for the lady lions.

Game two of the double header turned out to be a pitcher´s duel, as the weather cooled so did the bats for both teams. Sorenson took the mound again for the Lady Lions and her counterpart on the mound was Alex Brody. Both pitchers came out with arms a blazing and all threats were retired rather easily in the opening innings. The first hit for the Lady Lions came in the bottom of the third when Jessica Shuey (Lower Dauphin/Hummelstown, PA) clobbered a double to left center field. Kassidy Augustine (Central Dauphin/Harrisburg, PA) advanced the runner to third on a great bunt. The Lady Lions bats did not come through the rest of the inning and the runner was stranded on third. Feeding off the momentum of holding the Lady Lions, Alesha Sisco singled and advanced to second base on a throwing error to lead off the bottom of the fourth. After advancing on a fly out, Madison Gerish scored Alesha Sisco on a sac fly. Brody and Sorenson continued to pitch great games from there on out as no runner from either team was able to pass second base the rest of the game. The Lady Lions fought valiantly, but lost a tough one 1-0. Sisco had a very good game for the Red Devils as she went 2-3 and had the only RBI of the game. Shuey went 1-3 with a double for the Lady Lions. The real stars of this game were the pitchers as Brody gave up only 3 hits and had 9 strikeouts, and Sorenson gave up only 4 hits and had 2 srikeouts. The Lady Lions host Penn State Schuykill in another double header on Saturday March 21st.