Shields Strikes Out 11 in Doubleheader Split at East Stroudsburg
Apr. 10, 2007
EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. - Behind 11 strikeouts from junior Dani Shields (Laurel, Del./Sussex Tech), the Shippensburg softball team split a PSAC Eastern Division doubleheader at East Stroudsburg on Tuesday, winning game one 3-1 before a walk-off single gave the Warriors a 6-5 victory in game two.
With the win in game one, the Lady Raiders (19-16, 2-6 PSAC East) snapped East Stroudsburg’s eight-game winning streak, but as a result of West Chester’s sweep of Mansfield on Tuesday, remained in sixth-place in the PSAC Eastern Division standings.
Meanwhile, East Stroudsburg (16-17, 7-3 PSAC East) stayed in third-place with a four-game over fourth-place Millersville who was swept at home by division-leader Kutztown.
Shields allowed just three hits and one earned run in seven innings, but walked four in picking up her 10th win of the season. She now has 39 career victories and is three behind Candace Snyder (1986-89) for fourth-place on the school’s all-time wins list.
Offensively for the Lady Raiders, freshman Nicole Henninger (Reading/Muhlenberg), who extended her hitting streak to five games, was 2-for-4 with an RBI-single in the first inning to give her team a 1-0 lead.
Shippensburg would add to its lead in the top of the seventh, scoring two runs on RBI singles by sophomore Lori Knopf (Crown Point, Ind./Andrean) and junior Liz Good (Croydon/Truman) to take a three-run lead into the bottom of the seventh which was good enough for Shields to earn her second win in her last two starts.
Sophomore Becky Brensinger (Chambersburg/Chambersburg), who entered the game as a pinch runner in the seventh for freshman Lisamarie Ramagli (Levittown/Neshaminy), scored the eventual game-winning run in the seventh on Knopf’s single to left. Ramagli led off the inning with a double to right center.
In the second game, Shippensburg took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first only to see the Warriors plate three runs in the bottom of the inning to take a two-run lead.
Knopf would cut the lead to one with her second home run of the season in the second, but East Stroudsburg responded with two more runs in the third to push its lead to three, 5-2.
The Lady Raiders would score two runs in the fifth to once again pull within one before they tied the game in the top of the seventh on an RBI-single to right by sophomore Rachelle Wedell (Baltimore, Md./Northeast) that scored Brensinger after she pinch ran for junior Alyssa Dubbs (Shippensburg/Shippensburg) who led off the inning with a pinch-hit single.
Wedell was also instrumental in Shippensburg’s two runs in the fifth as well. After Good led off the inning with a single, she was then moved to third on a double by sophomore Chelsea Carson (Shippensburg/Shippensburg). Wedell then hit a sacrifice fly to center that scored Good before a throwing error allowed Carson to score after East Stroudsburg tried to throw her out at third.
However, just as they had done in the first and third innings, the Warriors had an answer as Jen Veronesi led off the bottom of the seventh with a triple off the right field wall before Jess Schmoyer ended the game during the next at-bat with a walk-off RBI-single to center field, scoring Veronesi.
Carson finished the game 2-for-3 with a double while
Wedell was 1-for-3 with two RBIs.
Junior Jill Kirby (Glen Mills/Garnet Valley) suffered
her fourth loss in six starts this season, totaling
six innings
while
allowing six
runs, including
five earned.
Shippensburg, which now finds itself five-and-a-half games out of the third and final playoff spot in the PSAC Eastern Division, plays a doubleheader with Millersville at Robb Field on Friday beginning at 2:30 p.m.
As the Lady Raiders make the stretch run for what would be their sixth consecutive appearance in the PSAC Softball Championship, 10 of the team’s remaining 16 games will be at home at Robb Field.
- Lady Raider Softball -
