READING, Pa. – Runs were hard to come by in the Albright softball team's doubleheader with Hood on Saturday afternoon. The Lions and Blazers entered the day tied in the MAC Commonwealth standings, and the teams left in the same position after splitting the two games. Albright won game one, 3-2, while Hood took the second, 1-0.
Riley Gerenda pitched both games for the Lions, allowing just two solo homers to account for the Blazers' only two hits of the game. In game two, she went the distance while allowing just one unearned run on five hits.
In game one, Hood hit one of those solo home runs to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Albright responded in the bottom of the third.
Kelly Cembrale led off the inning with a single, and she stole second after an out.
Stephany Courtney tied the score with an RBI double to right center to make it 1-1.
The Lions took the lead in the fourth.
Jessica Rodriguez walked to lead off the inning, and she scored to give Albright a 2-1 lead thanks to a triple by
Brianne Long. After a second out, Cembrale came through with a clutch, two-out hit to score Long to push the Albright lead to 3-1.
That third run came in handy when Hood cut the lead to 3-2 with another solo homer in the top of the sixth. Even with the game at a single run margin, Gerenda stayed cool and didn't allow another Hood batter to reach for the rest of the game.
Courtney, Cembrale and
Stephanie Pomante each had two hits to lead the Albright offense.
In game two, it was the Albright offense that had just two hits. Unfortunately for the Lions, those two hits weren't the solo homers that fueled Hood's limited offensive output in game one. Albright managed a single up the middle from
Regina Milburn and an infield hit for Courtney.
Gerenda did her part to keep Hood in check, though. Hood managed to piece together five hits, but the Blazers stranded seven runners. The run for Hood came thanks to a pair of errors in the top of the third.
Kristy Erfurdt reached via error to lead off the inning. She stole second, and the throw got past the middle infielders to allow her to move to third on the second error of the frame. A base hit up the middle followed, and that gave Hood an unearned run for a 1-0 lead.
Milburn reached for a second time in the fourth on a hit batsman, but she didn't get past first base. Courtney's infield hit in the sixth came with two outs, but she was also left stranded at first.
Albright heads out of conference for a pair of doubleheaders next week. The Lions travel to Neumann on Monday for a doubleheader at 3 p.m.
