GLENSIDE, Pa. – The Haverford College softball team won both ends of its doubleheader on Tuesday evening against Arcadia. The Fords won game one by an 11-5 score after a six-run sixth inning. Haverford (13-13) held on for a 5-4 win in the second game. The Fords have now swept three of their four non-conference doubleheaders since returning from Florida during the first week of the season.
Emily Winesett starred in the circle for Haverford on Tuesday as she pitched 10.1 combined innings and notched the victory in both games to help the Fords sweep. In the opener, it was an RBI single from Kendall Chambers in the second inning that pushed the game's first run across. Kristin Tatum then smacked a two-out double into right field during the next inning. However, the first big blow came when Chambers delivered a three-run blast in the top of the fourth inning to put her team up 5-0.
Arcadia almost completely erased that deficit in the bottom half of the fourth inning. The Knights did not record an extra base hit in the inning, but seven singles helped to push across four runs. Winesett inherited a bases loaded situation when she came on after the sixth straight single. The first batter she faced beat out an infield single before she set the next three batters down in succession to escape with a one-run lead on the board.
That 5-4 score held until the top of the sixth when Haverford erupted for six runs. Kaitlyn Guild started the inning with a single into center and a defensive miscue during Miwa Wenzel's at-bat put two aboard. That error would prove costly as five of the runs in the inning came around to score with two outs. Chambers drove in the first run of the inning which saw the Fords bat around with her fifth RBI of the game. Alex Craig was the first to do damage in the extended inning with an RBI groundout. Julia Blake and Tatum both had RBI singles later in the inning, while Jessica Koshinski doubled into the right centerfield gap before eventually scoring on a wild pitch.
That 11-5 lead proved more than enough for Winesett as she finished her first game with four innings pitched, allowing just four hits and one earned run during that time. She backed that outing up with a 6.1 inning effort in game two. To complete the sweep and pick up her seventh win of the season, Winesett allowed just six hits and struck out three. After providing the bulk of the offense as the starting pitcher in game one, Chambers recorded the save in game two.
The Knights pushed across runs in the first and second innings to open the tail end of the doubleheader. Nevertheless, it was back-to-back two run innings in the third and fourth that gave Haverford a lead it would not surrender. Walks to Craig and Blake, plus a defensive miscue on a bunt from Rachel Wolfson, loaded the bases with nobody out in the third. Tatum and Koshinski delivered RBI singles in that inning to tie the score. Craig and Wolfson again reached base in the fourth inning and came around to score on a triple from Blake to give Haverford the lead.
Haverford held a 5-3 lead going into the bottom of the seventh, but the Knights threatened with a walk and single that put two runners on with just one out. That prompted the call to the bullpen. During the very next at-bat, the Fords caught one of those two runners stealing while the other came in to score. Chambers then induced a ground out to lock down the victory.
Softball will be back on the road this Thursday as the team travels to Widener. The Pride are receiving votes in the latest NFCA Top 25 Poll. After Thursday's road doubleheader, the Fords will be at home in four straight doubleheaders.