LANCASTER, Pa. – The Haverford College softball team dropped a pair of Centennial Conference games to host Franklin & Marshall Sunday afternoon. The first game was 4-2 and the nightcap was 7-3.
In the first game, the Fords (7-21, 3-9 CC) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Erin Delaney opened the frame with a single and later scored on a wild pitch. The Diplomats (20-10-1, 6-5 CC) came back with four unanswered runs. The big inning was two-run fourth inning. Alicia Kukoda and Ashley Hartshorn each drove in a run.
The Fords tried to put together a rally in the seventh by loading the bases. Haverford was able to pull within 4-2 when Jen DiCandilo was hit by a pitch with two outs. Unfortunately, that would be all Haverford could get in the frame.
Six different Fords had a hit in the game. For Franklin & Marshall, Kaitlin Zampino and Kukoda had a pair of hits. The Diplomats out-hit the Fords, 7-6.
Zampino earned the win in the circle. She allowed two runs on six hits in 6.2 innings. Allie McQuaide recorded the final out to pick up her first save of the year. The Fords' Lisa Karmel went five innings in a losing effort. She allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits.
In the nightcap, the Diplomats snapped a 1-1 tie with a three-run third inning. Jefferson and McQuaide each had a RBI double.
Down four in the fifth, Candice Smith cut the Fords' deficit in half with a two-run double. Franklin & Marshall got the two runs back in the home half of the sixth.
Beth Davis, Laura Iwanyk, and DiCandilo all had two hits for the Fords, who had a total of eight in the game. Davis also added a RBI. Megan Pauley and Kukoda led the nine-hit Diplomat attack with two a piece.
McQuaide was the winning pitcher. She surrendered three runs on six hits in 4.1 innings. Nicole Casey went the final 2.2 innings to get the save. Haverford's Maggie Cronin took the loss. She struck out two batters in 2.2 innings.
Haverford returns home to take on Ursinus College in a Centennial Conference twin bill Thursday, April 21 starting at 3:30 p.m.