ORLANDO, Fla. – A day off didn't seem to slow down the Haverford College softball team as it picked up two more wins on Thursday and matched the best start through eight games in program history. The Fords have now started 7-1 four times in school history, reaching that mark for the first time since the 2014 championship season. Haverford took down Susquehanna by a 4-2 score in eight innings before breaking out the bats again with a 13-2 victory over Wheaton (Mass.)
The Fords started their day with a 4-2 extra-inning victory over regional foe Susquehanna (5-6). Both teams recorded 10 hits on the day, but runs were harder to come by as the dueling pitchers stranded most of those runners over the course of the eight inning game. Batting first, the Fords appeared to have something going early with a runner on third and no out before a line drive doubled off that runner. Nevertheless, Haverford got on the board first during the next inning when Rachel Wolfson hit a two-out single into right centerfield before Emma Souter hit one over the centerfield's head to give Haverford a 1-0 lead.
Temma Levis got the start for the Fords and went the full eight innings for her third complete game in four starts this week. She did not allow a run until the fourth inning when Susquehanna manufactured a run to tie the game at one. After Haverford left a pair of runners on in the top of the sixth, it took the lead back in the seventh. Souter started this inning by beating out an infield single and advancing to second on a wild throw. She moved over to third with one out via a wild pitch and came home to score as Alex Craig lifted a sacrifice fly into centerfield.
The River Hawks came back to tie the game for the second time as a leadoff double came around to score, knotting the game at two when Susquehanna was down to its final at-bats. Susquehanna had runners on second and third with just one out in that same inning and a chance to walk-off with the victory but Levis got a ground out to shortstop and saw the final out of the inning fly out to left.
Haverford went right back to its offense in the eighth. Starting off with Nicole Swisher on second for the international tiebreaker, Ashley Sisto bunted her to third while in infield single from Julia Blake put runners on the corners with one out. Back-to-back RBI singles from Stone and Jessica Koshinski made it 4-2. That would be more than enough offense to hold up as Levis stranded both the runner placed on second and a one-out single in the bottom of the eighth to move to 3-0 on the season. She struck out five and did not walk a batter in Thursday's opening game.
Haverford came right back after that game and put up a season-high 13 runs during a 13-2 victory over Wheaton (Mass.). Haverford scored multiple runs in each of the first three innings of Thursday's second game. All of the damage in the first inning came with two outs as Blake was hit-by-pitch and stole second before an RBI single from Stone get the Fords on the board. Koshinski then reached on an error and Souter made Wheaton pay for the extra out with a two-run single.
In the second, Haverford had three straight singles from Craig, Swisher, Sisto. After Sisto's RBI hit, Blake and Stone also had RBI doubles to make it 6-0 after just two innings. Haverford blew things open in the third with a seven-run inning. Swisher and Stone both had two RIB hits in the frame. Stone capped her night 3-for-3 in the second game with four RBI and two runs scored. Souter added three RBI while Blake scored three runs. Each of the players in Haverford's starting lineup scored at least one run.
Briana Quinn picked up the win in the circle as she allowed just two hits over three scoreless innings of work. She improved to 3-1 on the year while striking out three. Johanna Batterton pitched the finish two innings to finish out the victory.
Softball will wrap up its week in Florida on Friday with games against Eastern Connecticut State (1:30 p.m.) and The College of New Jersey (3:45 p.m.).