MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. --
Armida Roman hit a one-out, two-run double in the fifth inning and
Sammi O'Connor worked out of a jam in the seventh inning as Albright rallied to defeat Spalding 3-2 and extend its winning streak to a school-record eight straight games on Wednesday in the Fastpitch Dreams Tournament at the North Myrtle Beach Complex.
The Lions, who improved to 9-1 on the season, stretched their winning streak to eight straight with victories over Spalding and Sarah Lawrence. The eight consecutive wins tops the previous record of seven straight wins held by the 2002 Lions.
Spalding scored single runs in the third and fifth innings to take a 2-0 lead, but Albright rallied in the bottom of the fifth inning.
With one out,
Madison Bear singled up the middle to start the rally.
Kelly Cembrale reached on a fielder's choice and Bear was safe at second base on a Spalding fielding error.
Brianne Long followed with a clean single up the middle to score Bear and cut the lead to 2-1.
Roman then drilled a double to right center that brought home Cembrale and Long and put the Lions in front for the first time at 3-2.
O'Connor, who improved to 5-0 on the season, made the lead stand up. With two outs in the top of the seventh inning, Becca Mouser tripled to right to put the tying run on third base, but O'Connor worked out of trouble by striking out Samantha Klein to end the game.
O'Connor allowed seven hits and struck out 10 batters. It marked the fourth game this season, and the third straight, that she has notched at least 10 strikeouts in a game.
Long and Bear each had two hits to pace the offense, while Roman and O'Connor each had one hit.
Albright opened the day with a 12-0 victory over Sarah Lawrence as the Lions racked up 18 hits in support of
Riley Gerenda who tossed her second consecutive shutout.
Stephanie Pomante and
Sera Stull each drove in three runs for Albright, and
Corinne Garuffe had three hits and drove in a run. Cembrale, Long, Pomante,
Jordan Chell, Stull and
Stephany Courtney each recorded two hits for the Lions.
Gerenda allowed just two hits and struck out seven batters to improve to 4-1 on the season.
Albright jumped on the Gryphons with a six-run first inning as O'Connor had two RBI and Pomante, Garuffe, Chell and Stull all had first-inning RBI.
The Lions extended the lead to 8-0 with a pair of runs in the second inning and added two runs each in the fourth and fifth innings.
Albright will seek to extend its winning streak to nine straight when it faces Rutgers-Camden at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday (March 17).
