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Box Score vs. No. 2 Lock Haven
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Box Score vs. Shippensburg
LOCK HAVEN, Pa. (May 9) – The Vulcans split a pair of post-season games on Saturday at the 2009 NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Tournament, losing to host No. 2 Lock Haven University, 3-0, before earning a 2-0 extra-inning victory against Shippensburg University.
With the split, the California University of Pennsylvania softball team moves to 35-9 this season and 2-1 in the double-elimination tournament. The Vulcans will now play the host Bald Eagles (43-4) tomorrow, Sunday, May 10, at 12 p.m. and must win two games against Lock Haven to advance to next week’s NCAA Super Regionals.
In the opening game of the day, Cal U suffered a 3-0 loss to Lock Haven despite sophomore starter
Maria Greco (Pickering, Ontario/Notre Dame Catholic) allowing only five hits in seven innings. Meanwhile, Bald Eagle hurler Kristin Erb – the all-time winningest pitcher in NCAA history – tossed a complete-game shutout.
The Bald Eagles took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third after the first two batters of the inning reached base on a wild pitch and an error. The Vulcans looked to answer in the bottom of the inning when freshman rightfielder
Katie Burke (Kitchener, Ontario/St. Louis) leadoff with a double, but was unable to score after moving to third.
Lock Haven added an insurance run in the fifth inning on a RBI single by Erb (42-4), who scattered only four hits and registered five strikeouts.
Greco (15-5) was saddled with the loss after allowing only three runs (two earned) on five hits with four strikeouts in 7.0 innings.
A day after playing 17 innings against each other, Cal U and Shippensburg battled to a 2-0 contest in nine innings. With runners on first and second, junior second baseman
Julie Mackenzie (Mississauga, Ontario/Meadowvale) lined a two-out double to right field.
Junior
Sonia Petrosoniak (Mississauga, Ontario/Clarkson) improves to 11-0 this season after throwing 7.2 innings of scoreless relief. She issued no walks and registered two strikeouts while in the circle.
Petrosoniak entered the game in the bottom of the second with the bases loaded and worked out of the inning without surrendering a run. Shippensburg threatened to take the lead in the sixth before freshman centerfielder
Aubrey Martin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Carrick) threw out a runner at home attempting to score from second on a two-out single.
In the top of the ninth, Martin started the eventual game-winning, two-out rally with a single before advancing to second on a single by sophomore leftfielder
Merissa Daley (Whitby, Ontario/Sinclair). Mackenzie followed with a two-run double before being thrown out attempting to take third base on the play. Shippensburg was in position to cut into the deficit in the bottom of the inning when it had a runner on third before Petrosoniak forced a flyout to end the game and secure the win.
Mackenzie anchored the offense against the Raiders, going 3-for-4 with two RBI. Martin added a pair of hits and also reached base on a walk.
Sophomore Dana Ward (4-8) suffered the loss after allowing two runs on nine hits after throwing a nine-inning complete game.