READING, Pa. – The Haverford College softball team, playing its final non-conference doubleheader of the regular season, took the opening game at Alvernia by a 9-3 score before tying the Crusaders, 8-8, after eight innings in game two of a contest called due to darkness. The Fords' (23-7-1) tie was just the fourth in program history and first since the 2012 season.
In the opening game, Haverford used a four-run fourth inning to take a lead it did not relinquish. The Fords got on the board first when Miwa Wenzel laced a single into right field, scoring two runs with the bases loaded. The two runners that came around to score reached on a walk (Kristin Tatum) and hit by pitch (Kendall Chambers).
The Fords' four-run fourth inning was kept alive when the Crusaders elected to try and cut down a run trying to score in the fourth. Chambers and Julie Garlick each singled in the inning before a fielder's choice and groundout left a pair of runners on second and third. Jessica Koshinski beat out a fielder's choice to score the first run of the inning. Lauren Touey followed that up with a single through the left side to make the score 4-2. A defensive misplay in the outfield during Dayle Comerford's at-bat allowed the final two runs of the inning to scamper home unearned.
Haverford added three insurance runs in the seventh. Touey started the inning with a walk before a single from Comerford and error during Tatum's at-bat loaded the bases. An RBI groundout from Jill Schnall made it 7-2 before Chambers helped create her own insurance with a two-run single.
In addition to her production at the plate, Chambers also went the distance in the circle for her second complete game of the year. She allowed just two earned runs over her seven innings of work, notching her third win of the year in the opening game.
Game two was the complete definition of a deadlock as every time the Fords took the lead, Alvernia came right back to tie the game. Although it was the Crusaders that scored three runs in the bottom of the first, Haverford answered right back in the third. A walk to Garlick and singles from Brianna Lowey and Koshinski loaded the bases. Touey singled home the first two runs of the inning, while a wild throw trying to cut down the tying run at the plate tied the game at three-all.
From that point on, the line scores matched perfectly for the rest of the night. Haverford took its first lead of the game in the fifth when Garlick's RBI groundout made it a 4-3 game. That tally was answered by a Crusaders' RBI single in the bottom half. Tatum doubled home two runs in the sixth inning, while Schnall also drove in a run to give the Fords a 7-4 edge.
Nevertheless, Alvernia also answered this rally with three runs of its own in the bottom half. Both teams would also score the runner placed on second as the international tiebreak was put into effect in the eighth. The game would be called after that frame due to darkness.
Softball will return home Saturday for its final games of the regular season. Saturday's Centennial Conference doubleheader with Gettysburg will start at 1 p.m. The games will be preceded by Senior Day festivities for the seven members of the Haverford College softball team Class of 2015.