ABINGTON, Pa. – Junior
Sammi O'Connor picked up two victories on the mound and also drove in three runs leading Albright to a non-conference doubleheader sweep of Penn State-Abington on Thursday at Huntington Field.
Albright won game one 8-2 and then rallied to win game two 6-4 to complete the sweep.
After taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning of game two the Lions fell behind 3-1 after Penn State-Abington answered with a three-run first.
O'Connor replaced Albright starter
Riley Gerenda in the second inning and held the Nittany Lions at bay until the Lions could rally.
Albright took the lead for good with a five-run fourth inning sparked by O'Connor.
Armida Roman led off the inning with a walk to begin the rally.
Morgan Cullen followed with a double to place runners in scoring position with no outs.
Albright cut the lead to 3-2 when
Zoe Robertson reached on an error, which allowed Roman to score from third base.
Albright then loaded the bases when
Regina Milburn was hit by a pitch and
Brianne Long reached on an error. O'Connor then blasted a double to center that scored all three base runners and put the Lions in front 6-3.
The Nittany Lions got a run in the sixth inning on a triple and an RBI groundout, but that was all that O'Connor would allow.
O'Connor would work 5.1 innings and allowed just one run to go along with six strikeouts to pick up the victory and improve to 8-5 on the season.
Long had two hits and scored two runs for Albright in game two.
Albright took an early 1-0 lead in game one of the doubleheader.
Nikki Russo singled to center to begin the inning and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by
Kaela Romano.
Roman followed with a base hit to move Russo to third and she came in to score when
Sera Stull singled to center.
Albright extended the lead to 3-0 with a pair of runs in the top of the third inning.
With one out, Milburn singled up the middle to begin the rally. Following a groundout, O'Connor reached on a Penn State-Abington error, which allowed Milburn to score giving Albright a 2-0 lead.
Russo made it 3-0 Albright when she laced a double to right to score O'Connor.
Penn State-Abington answered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to cut the lead to 3-2, but Albright responded with three runs in the top of the fifth inning.
With two outs, Long singled to center and O'Connor followed with a single that put runners on the corners.
Long came in to score on a passed ball to give Albright a 4-2 lead and Russo reached on an error allowing O'Connor to cross the plate giving the Lions a 5-2 lead.
Romano then singled to center driving in Russo and increasing the Albright lead to 6-2.
Albright added single runs in the sixth inning on an RBI groundout by Milburn and in the seventh inning on an RBI single by Stull to push the margin to 8-2.
O'Connor picked up the win for Albright as she allowed just three hits and no earned runs to go along with nine strikeouts in raising her record to 7-5 on the season.
Stull finished game one 3-for-4 with two RBI for Albright, while Russo and Romano each had two hits.
