READING, Pa. – Lebanon Valley came into Sunday afternoon's doubleheader with the Albright softball team with a 6-2 record in MAC Commonwealth play and had won 12 of its previous 14 games while receiving votes in the NFCA Division III poll. With a pair of 2-1 defeats at the hands of the Lions, however, the Dutchmen matched that loss total in a matter of a few hours.
Riley Gerenda started – and finished – both games of the doubleheader, earning victories while allowing just two runs in 14 innings pitched. In game one, she allowed just three hits and one walk while fanning four. She didn't allow a run through the first five innings, and that gave the Albright offense a chance to take the lead.
The Lions broke through in the bottom of the third.
Corinne Garuffe and
Stephany Courtney both singled, and they were at the corners with two outs. Courtney took off for second and hung in a rundown long enough to allow Garuffe to race home with the game's first run. Courtney was also safe on the play. In the fourth,
Jessica Rodriguez doubled over the right fielder's head with two outs.
Brianne Long followed with a single up the middle to bring Rodriguez home to make it 2-0.
That was all the support Gerenda needed. She faced the minimum from the second through the fifth innings, and it took a two-out single in the sixth inning to get Lebanon Valley on the board. That made it 2-1. She got the Dutchmen in order again in the seventh to end game one.
Courtney and Rodriguez each had two hits for the Lions.
In the second game, Albright scored its two runs in the third inning.
Jordan Chell and Courtney each singled to lead off the inning, and
Armida Roman walked to load the bases after an out. A fielder's choice at the plate eliminated Chell for the second out, but Rodriguez came through with an RBI single to score Courtney to make it 1-0. Roman scored on the next play when a fielding error allowed Long to reach.
Gerenda tiptoed through the raindrops in game two, allowing 10 hits but no runs until the seventh inning. She stranded nine runners in total, including two in three of the last four innings.
An error allowed the first run to cross for Lebanon Valley in the seventh, but the batter tried to stretch that error into second base. Chell fired to Courtney for the tag to give the Lions the out, anyway. It proved to be a big play as the next two batters singled with two outs, but a grounder to
Kelly Cembrale at short ended the game, 2-1.
Garuffe had two of Albright's five hits while Courtney and Rodriguez each had another hit.
Albright returns to action with a conference doubleheader at Widener on Thursday.
