WESTMINSTER, Md. – The Haverford College softball team came away with a hard-fought split against defending Centennial Conference Champion McDaniel with a 3-2 win in nine innings during Saturday's second game. The Fords' (8-8, 1-1 CC) extra-inning victory showed resilience after the Green Terror walked off with an 11-10 win in the opening game.
Simply put, Haverford just could not keep McDaniel off the scoreboard in game one as the Green Terror scored at least one run in each of their seven times at-bat. McDaniel got off to a great start with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first and added three more unearned runs in the second. The hosts also pushed in two more runs during both the third and fourth innings to build a lead that grew to 8-2 after four full innings of play.
Nevertheless, Haverford battled back with three runs in both the fifth and sixth innings. The Fords started their fifth inning with three straight singles from Kaitlyn Guild, Kendall Chambers and Jessica Koshinski. A walk to Miwa Wenzel forced in the first run of the inning. The Green Terror cut down a run at the plate and got a strikeout before a two-out RBI single from Alex Craig that also saw another run score after an error on the play. A line drive to right left two runners stranded.
It was a three-run home run from Koshinski that provided all the damage for Haverford in the sixth. Julia Blake walked to start the inning before a single from Guild put the runners on base for Koshinski's second home run of the season. During the bottom half of the fifth and the sixth, McDaniel got a run in each frame as the Fords trailed 10-8 heading into their final at-bats of the afternoon. The Fords got those two runs in the top of the seventh, but a bases loaded walk in the bottom half of the inning proved to be the difference.
After offense seemed to rule the first game, both team's pitching began to take over in game two. The Fords and Green Terror each finished the game with their same starting pitcher in the circle. In the end, it was Haverford's Sara Tauriello who out-dueled McDaniel's Valerie Lamb. Tauriello allowed just five hits and struck out 10 during her nine innings of work en route to her first win of the season.
Haverford opened the second game's scoring with RBI doubles from Rachel Wolfson and Blake in the top of the third. McDaniel answered that early strike with runs in the third and fourth innings. With the score tied 2-2 after the fourth, Tauriello really settled in and retired the last 14 batters that she faced in the complete game win.
However, her counterpart was just as strong during the closing innings. Lamb retired 16 of Haverford's 17 batters who stepped into the box during the fourth through eighth innings. That all changed when Blake recorded her third double of Saturday's second game to put the potential game-winning run in scoring position. She was bunted over to third with one out before an RBI groundout from Kristin Tatum provided the go-ahead offense. That single run was more than enough from Tauriello as she struck out the first two hitters in the bottom of the ninth before inducing a fly out to left field.
Softball will be back at home for a pair of doubleheaders this week before another road doubleheader next Saturday. The Fords will host Washington College on Tuesday starting at 3 p.m. before Rowan comes to town two days later.