Carson's First Career Home Run Lifts Lady Raiders to Sweep Over Millersville
Apr. 13, 2007
SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - In the bottom of the seventh of a scoreless game against Millersville in game one of a doubleheader, Shippensburg softball sophomore Chelsea Carson (Shippensburg/Shippensburg) hit her first career home run, a walk-off shot to left, to give the Lady Raiders a 1-0 victory.
In game two, Shippensburg (21-16, 4-6 PSAC East) hit three home runs which scored all five Lady Raider runs in a 5-2 victory.
With the doubleheader sweep, Shippensburg moves into fourth-place in the PSAC Eastern Division standings, three games behind third-place East Stroudsburg (7-3) for the division‚s final berth into the PSAC Softball Championship.
The Lady Raiders also have a three-and-a-half game lead over Millersville and West Chester who are currently tied for fifth with 3-9 conference records.
Heading into the bottom of the seventh in game one, Shippensburg and Millersville (14-20, 3-9 PSAC East) had combined for just two hits, one each when Carson led off for the Lady Raiders.
Carson, who is second on the team with a .333 average in 25 games this season, took the first pitch from Emily Flieger deep to left giving Shippensburg its third win in the last four games. The home run also extended Carson‚s hitting streak to a career-best six games.
The last walk-off home run for Shippensburg came back on May 6, 2006 in a 1-0 victory over Kutztown in the semifinals of the PSAC Softball Championship. In that game, Kelly Nelson hit the first pitch she saw in the bottom of the seventh over the left field wall, also giving junior Dani Shields (Laurel, Del./Sussex Tech) a perfect game.
On Friday, Shields was also the winning pitcher, holding the Marauders to just one hit over seven innings while striking out eight in improving her record to 11-5 this season.
In the second game, the Lady Raiders did not waste any time in putting runs on the board, scoring four in the first inning on back-to-back home runs by sophomore Amanda Bardo (Montoursville/Montoursville) and junior Sarah Stengl (High Springs, Fla./Hollidaysburg (Pa.)), both with two outs.
Bardo‚s three-run homer to left center that scored Carson and junior Liz Good (Croydon/Truman) was her fifth of the season, the second-highest total on the team behind freshman Nicole Henninger (Reading/Muhlenberg) who has nine.
For Stengl, it was her fourth of the season and first since March 19 when she had two home runs, one in each game of a doubleheader at Columbia Union.
Shippensburg would score its fifth run of the game on a solo home run to left by freshman Lisamarie Ramagli (Levittown/Neshaminy) to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning. It was Ramagli‚s fourth homer this the season and came right after the Marauders scored two runs in the top of the inning to cut the lead in half, 4-2.
In the circle for the Lady Raiders, sophomore Lauren Plasterer (Shippensburg/Shippensburg) made her sixth start of the season and went three innings, allowing five hits and two earned runs, but raised her record to 4-2 on the season.
Sophomore Lori Knopf (Crown Point, Ind./Andrean) entered the game in the fourth and pitched the final four innings in relief of Plasterer, holding Millersville to just one hit.
Shippensburg returns to action on Tuesday, hosting a doubleheader against Mansfield at Robb Field beginning at 2:30 p.m.
Notes: There are three key PSAC Eastern Division games for Lady Raider fans to keep an eye on Saturday, most importantly, West Chester at East Stroudsburg. West Chester is three-and-a-half games behind Shippensburg in the conference standings while East Stroudsburg is three games ahead of Shippensburg in third-place.
Also on Saturday, Kutztown travels to Bloomsburg and Mansfield travels to Millersville.
- Lady Raider Softball -
