No. 15 Softball Totals Season-High 13 Hits in 9-1 Win Over Adelphi

Mar. 16, 2007

Game One | Game Two

KISSIMMEE, Fla. - The No. 15-ranked Shippensburg softball team totaled a season-high 13 hits for the second time in as many days as the Lady Raiders scored seven runs in the sixth inning en route to a 9-1 victory over Adelphi in their final game of the Rebel Spring Games Friday afternoon.

In game one, Shippensburg (10-6) lost its fourth extra-inning game in the last seven, dropping a 4-3 decision in nine innings against Tiffin.

Against Adelphi, freshman Nicole Henninger (Reading/Muhlenberg) went 2-for-2 with two RBIs and one run while senior Katie Heatley (York/Dallastown) and sophomore Rachelle Wedell (Baltimore, Md./Northeast) were each 2-for-3 with two RBIs and one run.

Henninger finished the day 4-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs and during the Lady Raiders’ 10-game trip to Florida, hit .517 with eight RBIs and 15 hits, including three doubles and three home runs. She boasted a slugging percentage of .976 and had at least one hit in nine contests with two hits in five.

With RBI singles in both the first and third innings against the Panthers (6-4), Henninger drove in what proved to be the game-winning runs as Shippensburg held a 2-0 lead after three before Adelphi scored its lone run in the top of the fifth.

In the circle, junior Dani Shields (Laurel, Del./Sussex Tech) won her third-straight decision, striking out seven and scattering just six hits. During that time, she has struck out 21 in 20.0 innings while surrendering only six earned runs.

In the first game versus, the Lady Raiders had just six hits, only two of which came in the final two innings.

With one out and runners on first and second in the bottom of the ninth, Tracy Lehman doubled to right center to score Nicole Romero to give Shippensburg its fourth extra-inning loss in the last seven.

Using the international tie-breaker where the last batter of the previous inning is placed on second base to start each inning after seven, both teams would each score one run in the seventh and eighth innings to keep the game tied at 3-3.

In the top of the ninth, the Lady Raiders took a 4-3 lead after junior Sarah Stengl (High Springs, Fla./Hollidaysburg (Pa.)) recorded her first hit of the game on a single through the left side to score junior Liz Good (Croydon/Truman) who entered the game as a pinch runner for sophomore Kelly Nelson (Warminster/William Tennent).

However, in the bottom of the inning, the Dragons (5-4) would tie the game on an RBI-single by Romero before she scored the game-winning run on Lehman’s only hit of the game.

After being held to just two hits through six innings and trailing 1-0, Shippensburg tied the game in the top of the seventh when freshman Henninger homered to right center, her team-leading fourth home run of the season, to lead off the inning.

Prior to that point, Tiffin’s Krista Sowers had been stellar in the circle, totaling nine strikeouts in addition to allowing only two hits while facing just three batters over the minimum.

Sowers held the Lady Raiders without a hit through the first three and two-third innings, retiring all 11 batters she faced, including six by strikeout before Nelson hit a single up the middle with two outs in the top of the fourth.

Henninger then followed with her third double of the season to put runners on second and third, but Sowers then struck out Stengl to end Shippensburg’s best chance to win the game in regulation.

Henninger finished the game 2-for-3 with a double and a home run.

Shippensburg is scheduled to travel to Takoma Park, Md., on Monday afternoon for a doubleheader against Columbia Union starting at 1:00 p.m. However, due to the inclement weather in the mid-atlantic region, the games may be cancelled. Please check back to raiders.ship.edu for the latest information.

- Lady Raider Softball -