Softball Splits at Millersville, Misses PSAC Championship for First Time Since 2001
Apr. 28, 2008
MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - Freshman Nicole Henninger (Reading/Muhlenberg) hit her 11th and 12th home runs of the season, including a grand slam in game one, to highlight a doubleheader split at Millersville on Saturday, but for the first time since 2001, the Shippensburg softball team will not advance to the conference championship.
Entering Saturday, the Lady Raiders (29-22, 12-12 PSAC East) needed two wins, coupled with two East Stroudsburg losses, to advance to next week's PSAC Softball Championship at Kutztown May 3-5.
Following a 7-2 victory in game one and a 2-0 East Stroudsburg loss at home against Bloomsburg, Shippensburg maintained hope of appearing in its sixth consecutive conference championship, but those hopes quickly faded with an 8-0 loss in game two.
However, a Lady Raider game two victory would have been meaningless after East Stroudsburg qualified for its first PSAC Softball Championship appearance since 1981 with a 2-1 win over Bloomsburg in game two.
The last time Shippensburg finished conference play with a record at or below .500 was back in 1994 when the team finished 5-6-1 in the Eastern Division. As an example of the Lady Raiders' dominance in the PSAC, the team's 12 conference victories were also the fewest since 1994.
Shippensburg led 1-0 in the top of the fourth inning in game one when sophomore Rachelle Wedell (Baltimore, Md./Northeast) led off the inning with a walk before Henninger hit a two-run homer to give the Lady Raiders a 3-0 lead.
With the score still 3-0 in the seventh, Henninger would hit her second home run of the game and second career grand slam, increasing Shippensburg's lead to 7-0. It was the first multi-home run game of Henninger's career and her 11th of the season, adding to her school, single-season record which was was nine.
Janelle Mrakovich would hit a two-run homer for Millersville (19-25, 8-14 PSAC East) in the bottom of the seventh before Shippensburg junior Dani Shields (Laurel, Del./Sussex Tech) retired the next two batters for her 15th win of the season and 44th of her career, tying her with Lindsey Williams (1999-2002) for third on the school's career list.
With nine strikeouts, Shields now has 513 for her career, 18 shy of Andrea Smith (1997-99) for second-place on the Shippensburg all-time list.
Henninger went 2-for-4 with a career-high six RBIs in game one while sophomore Becky Brensinger (Chambersburg/Chambersburg) was 2-for-3 in making her first start since game two of a doubleheader with Bloomsburg on April 18.
Brensinger also went 2-for-3 in game two as she and freshman Lisamarie Ramagli (Levittown/Neshaminy) combined to total four of the Lady Raiders' six hits against Marauder pitcher Erica Slavinski.
After an RBI-single by Jill Golomboski in the bottom of the second gave Millersville a 1-0 lead, the Marauders erupted for four runs in the third, three of which came on Mrakovich's second home run of the day.
Mrakovich would homer again in the fifth, a two-run shot, as Millersville extended its lead to 7-0 before Meghan Sinback ended the game in the sixth, invoking the eight-run rule, with the Marauders third home run of the game.
Sophomore Lauren Plasterer (Shippensburg/Shippensburg) suffered her fourth consecutive loss for the Lady Raiders, allowing four runs in 2.2 innings. Her last victory inside the circle came in an 8-1 victory at Columbia Union on March 19.
Junior Jill Kirby (Glen Mills/Garnet Valley) also surrendered four runs in 2.2 innings for Shippensburg, allowing six hits. Entering today's contests, Kirby had allowed just three hits and one run while totaling seven strikeouts in her last three appearances, a total of 7.1 innings.
The Lady Raiders, who are currently ranked at No. 25 in the NFCA Division II Top 25 Poll and fourth in the NCAA Division II Mid-Atlantic Region Poll, must now wait until next Monday, May 7 to see if they will be one of eight teams selected to the Mid-Atlantic Region Championship which will be played May 10-13 at a site to be determined.
Check back to raiders.ship.edu for the latest information as it becomes available.
- Lady Raider Softball -
