WILKES-BARRE, Pa. –
Sera Stull and
Sammi O'Connor each drove in two runs leading Albright to a 7-3 game-one victory over King's and a split of the non-conference doubleheader on Sunday at the Betzler Complex.
King's won game two 3-2 in eight innings to earn the split.
Stull was 2-for-4 with two RBI in the game-one victory, while O'Connor was 3-for-3 while scoring a run and driving in two runs. Albright also received two hits from
Armida Roman, while
Brianne Long,
Kaela Romano,
Morgan Cullen and
Zoe Robertson also picked up base hits for the Lions.
O'Connor also picked up the victory for Albright on the mound to improve to 13-9 on the season. She went 7.0 innings and allowed just six hits while striking out 11 batters.
Albright jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead against the Monarchs with a pair of runs in the first.
Long led off the first inning with a double and
Nikki Russo and
Regina Milburn each drew a walk to load the bases. O'Connor made it 1-0 Albright when she delivered a single to score Long with the first run of the game.
Stull followed with a single to center that plated Russo and pushed the Albright lead to 2-0.
Albright (19-14) added to its lead by scoring two more runs in the top of the second inning.
Robertson singled to lead off the inning and moved into scoring position by stealing second base. Romano singled to left moving Robertson to third and then stole the Lions second base of the inning.
Russo drove in Robertson with an RBI groundout to increase the Albright lead to 3-0.
Romano scored the Lions fourth run of the game when she stole home, which was her second steal of the inning.
Albright upped the lead to 5-0 in the fourth inning when O'Connor drove in Russo with a single.
After King's (17-12) cut the Albright lead to 5-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Albright answered with two runs of its own in the top of the sixth inning.
With one out, Milburn reached on a King's fielding error and advanced to second on a single by O'Connor.
Stull then ripped a single to center to score Milburn to extend the Albright lead to 6-2. Cullen made it 7-2 Albright when she singled to right scoring O'Connor.
Albright banged out 10 hits in game two led by Russo who had three hits, while O'Connor and Robertson each had two hits. Long, Romano and Cullen also had base hits for Albright in game two.
Robertson gave Albright a 2-1 lead in the top of the sixth inning of game two with a single that scored pinch-runner
Riley Gerenda.
King's tied the game with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning and won the contest in the bottom of the eighth inning when Rachael DeTore hit a game-winning sacrifice fly.
O'Connor took the loss in game two in relief of Gerenda despite not allowing an earned run and dropped to 13-10 on the season. Samantha Bloom pitched all eight innings for King's to improve to 5-1 on the season.
Albright will conclude the regular season with a doubleheader at York (Pa.) on Wednesday.
