GWYNEDD VALLEY, Pa. – Sarah Brody and Jen DiCandilo each knocked in three runs for Haverford College's softball team in a, 9-1, Game 2 victory Thursday afternoon at Gwynedd-Mercy College. The host Griffins stole the opener with a pair of seventh-inning runs to capture a come-from-behind, 8-7, win in the non-conference match-up at GMC Softball Field.
Brody and DiCandilo were both 2-for-3 in the nightcap for Haverford (15-7) as the Fords jumped on Gwynedd-Mercy (6-10) with three runs in the top of the first, added another in the second, and put the game away with four more in the third. The game was ended after five innings due to the eight-run rule.
After Elizabeth Newman drew a walk as the game's leadoff batter, Brody, DiCandilo, Dayle Comerford and Lauren Touey followed with consecutive singles to advance three runs across home plate and give Haverford starting pitcher Claire Fitzgerald a comfortable starting point before even walking out to the pitcher's circle.
Gwynedd made Fitzgerald work in the bottom of the frame as she faced runners at second and third base with one out and Ashley Lamont and Kelsey McDonough, two of the Griffins' heroes in Game 1, coming to bat. Fitzgerald struck out Lamont looking and induced McDonough into an easy fly ball to center field to squash the threat.
The Haverford advantage grew by one run the second, and then the game was broken wide open in the third when the Fords plated four unearned runs against G-M's Kaitlyn Johnson who had come on in relief of starter Jennifer Whalen at the beginning of the second inning.
Brody's two-out triple to right center brought home Fitzgerald, Gabrielle Sapienza and Newman, and Brody scored when the next batter, DiCandilo, singled to right.
Fitzgerald (3-2) earned the win in Game 2 for Haverford, striking out five while allowing one unearned run off five Gwynedd hits and three walks. Whalen was saddled with the loss for the Griffins.
Thursday's opener (box score) looked like another win for the Fords after the visiting team carried a 4-2 advantage into the bottom of the fifth inning. Four Griffin hits, two walks, and a hit batter later, the home team had wrested the lead away with four runs.
Haverford answered back in the top of the sixth scoring three runs to edge back in front, 7-6, but Lamont, after a single, and McDonough, after drawing a walk of Haverford's Emily Winesett, later came in to score the tying and winning run on Alexis Deal's walk-off double in the bottom of the seventh.
Haverford heads back into Centennial Conference action with its next outing on Sunday afternoon at Class of '95 Field when it welcomes McDaniel College for a doubleheader that starts at 1 p.m.