READING, Pa. – The Albright softball team opened its home schedule with a pair of games against Messiah in MAC Commonwealth action on Tuesday afternoon. Messiah came back in the seventh inning to win game one, 6-3, before winning game two, 11-1, in six innings.
Game one was a back-and-forth affair. The Lions jumped on top in the bottom of the first.
Brooke Yerger led off with a walk, and she moved to third on a
Stephany Courtney sacrifice bunt that was muffed by the defense. Two batters later,
Stephanie Pomante singled to left to bring Yerger home.
Messiah leapfrogged ahead in the top of the fourth inning with a leadoff double followed by a two-run homer from Erica Cressman to make it 2-1.
Albright jumped back ahead in the bottom of the fifth.
Camille Sears doubled to center after one out, and she moved to third on Pomante's infield single.
Jessica Rodriguez walked to load the bases, and
Kaitlyn Chell doubled to right field to score two Lions to make it 3-2 Albright.
The score stayed that way until Messiah's last at-bat. Albright already had an out on the board, but the Falcons had the next seven batters reach base to fuel their comeback. After a walk and a single, those two runs scored on a double to make it 4-3 Messiah. Another double, followed later by a bases loaded walk, added two more runs to the tally to make it 6-3.
Pomante's two hits led the way for the Lions in game one.
Riley Gerenda struck out nine batters in the circle.
In game two, Messiah led off the game with a home run, and the offense didn't really slow down from that point forward.
Albright did cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the second.
Kaitlyn Chell led off with a single up the middle, and she moved to third after a pair of sacrifice bunts. Yerger brought her home with a single to center.
Messiah made it 4-1 with two runs in the fourth inning, and the Falcons scored three more in the fifth and four more in the sixth to invoke the mercy rule in an 11-1 victory. Yerger and Pomante each had two hits for Albright in game two.
Albright returns home to face Widener on Thursday at 3 p.m.
