COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. - The Haverford College softball team (10-24, 4-12 CC) secured a doubleheader sweep in the season finale on Tuesday afternoon at Ursinus (15-21, 7-7 CC), prevailing by final scores of 6-3 and 11-1 in six innings at Snell Softball Field, reversing Ursinus' finale sweep at Haverford a season ago.
Game 1: Haverford 6, Ursinus 3
Ursinus struck first in the opening game, with Sara Sullivan adding an RBI double into the right-center field gap for the first Bears' run of the contest. A double from Kayla Carr brought home another run in the third, giving the hosts a 2-0 lead into the fifth inning.
The Fords mounted a significant rally in the top of the fifth to take the lead for good against Christa Andrusiewicz. Grace Stowe was hit by a pitch, and Kyra van Denburgh then laid down a perfectly placed sacrifice bunt to move pinch runner Kyle Morano into scoring position. Lauren Martin reached on an infield single and stole second ahead of a single to center field from Sarah Fan that plated Haverford's first run of the game.
The momentum continued, with Mia Kessinger punching a single into left field to tie the score. With two down, Abby Litchfield did major damage with a two-RBI double, bringing in both Kessinger and Leal as the Fords pulled ahead 4-2. Addie Sapristein reached on a fielding error that brought home the fifth run for the Fords.
Haverford added an insurance run in the seventh inning, with Litchfield again providing the RBI after Fan singled to shortstop and Leal placed a single down the right field line. Litchfield reached on an infield hit to score Fan for a 6-2 advantage.
Alexa Finkele got the ball to begin the seventh looking to finish a complete game in her final start with the Fords. Finkele did just that, working around a Sarah DiLello triple to lead off the inning. Sam Mallen added her third hit of the game with a single down the right field line, but Finkele recovered to get a pair of quick outs before inducing a fielder's choice grounder to Leal to end the game 6-3 in favor of the visitors.
Finkele scattered 11 hits but gave up just three hits with two strikeouts and did not walk a batter. Fan and Kessinger each had three hits, joining Litchfield in reaching that mark. Litchfield added three RBI in the first contest.
Game 2: Haverford 11, Ursinus 1 (6 innings)
As in game one, Haverford rallied from behind as the Bears took the opening run of the contest against Fords' starter Clarissa Smith. Mallen singled and stole second before a groundout advanced her to third base. Sullivan then connected on an RBI groundout to plate the first run.
Haverford went to work offensively in the third inning, putting up three runs against Miranda MciIvaine. With one out, Lauren Martin, Fan, and Kessinger all singled to load the bases for Litchfield, who launched a two-RBI single to give the Fords the lead. With two down, Sapirstein legged out an infield single to plate another run.
The fourth inning belonged to Haverford, with Van Denburgh starting the rally with a one-out single. Martin then crushed a double into the right-center field gap to plate Van Denburgh. Fan reached on an error and stole second before Kessinger delivered an RBI groundout. Litchfield punched a single into right, and Jocelyn Leal then put a major bow on the rally with a home run into left to plate two more, putting the Fords up 8-1.
In the fifth inning, the Fords kept their foot firmly on the gas with a run-rule victory in mind. Etheridge singled ahead of a triple from Van Denburgh, who later scored on a wild pitch to make it 11-1.
After Smith's two innings of two-hit ball, Rachel McQueen took over with three innings of one-hit relief, striking out one as the Fords only allowed three total hits from the Ursinus offense.
Martin added three hits while Kessinger and Litchfield again had multi-hit games. Van Denburgh contributed two hits and two RBI.
The Fords will miss the contributions and leadership in the circle from their lone senior in Finkele but should be well prepared for a 2025 run with soon-to-be seniors Maddie Etheridge, Mia Kessinger, Rachel McQueen, Tessa Pearlstein, and Abby Olivier ready to lead the team back to a CC playoff berth while lineup stalwarts such Addie Sapirstein, Jocelyn Leal, Abby Litchfield and Sarah Fan take another big step forward into upperclassmen roles after strong sophomore campaigns. The emergence of Lauren Martin, Grace Stowe and Kyra Van Denburgh in their first seasons on campus will help support a young pitching core.