ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Haverford College softball team swept aside Muhlenberg on Tuesday afternoon to maintain its second place spot in the Centennial Conference standings ahead of this weekend's showdown with Dickinson. Emma Souter provided all the offense the Fords needed during a 4-1 game one victory before Haverford capped the sweep with a 6-4 victory in the second game.
Souter went 3-for-3 with four RBI in the opening game. Moving up to third in the lineup against the Mules, Souter gave the Fords a 3-0 lead just three batters into the game as she blasted her third home run of the season over the left field fence during the top of the first inning. That home run also scored Julia Blake and Nicole Swisher who started the game with back-to-back singles.
In addition to two more hits in the third and seventh innings, Souter lifted a sacrifice fly to right field during the fifth to score Swisher. Swisher scored her second run of the game after tripling to start that frame. That offense proved to be more than enough from Temma Levis who ran her record to 9-2 with her eighth complete game in 13 starts. Levis retired 10 of the first 11 batters she faced on Tuesday and was working on a three-hitter going into the seventh.
Levis also retired the first two batters she faced in the seventh, but three singles and a hit by pitch allowed Muhlenberg to break up the shutout bid. Nevertheless, a grounder to first got the Fords out of the bases loaded jam to seal game one. The fourth inning was the only other frame in which the Mules put a runner in scoring position as they did so with a ground out that put two away before Levis closed that inning with one of her seven strikeouts in the opener.
The Fords also got the early jump in game two with a pair of runs in the second inning. Rachel Wolfson started that frame with a single before Ashley Sisto reached on an error to put both runners in scoring position. After starring in the circle earlier, Levis gave Haverford some early offense with a two-run double into the left centerfield gap. Muhlenberg answered those two runs with a two-run home run off the bat of Kristina Qualben during the fourth, but Haverford wasted little time for its response.
Taking advantage of a crucial Muhlenberg error in the fourth, Souter and Marybeth Stone started a two-out rally with back-to-back singles. Wolfson drove a ball into left field that bounced off the glove of the left fielder to give the Fords the lead. Wolfson later stole home after an RBI single from Sisto put runners on first and third. Levis provided even more offense with an RBI triple to give the Fords a 6-2 lead heading to the bottom of the fifth.
Muhlenberg got two of those runs back in the bottom half of the fifth, but the Mules would come no closer the rest of the game. Briana Quinn got the start in game two and pitched 4.1 solid innings to notch her fifth victory of the season. Johanna Batterton followed her in relief and held the lead for the Fords during her inning of work. Levis shut things down as she recorded the first save of her season during her first relief appearance. Levis retired all five batters that she faced during the last 1.2 innings.
Haverford will be back at home on the Class of '95 Field this Thursday for a 3 p.m. non-conference doubleheader against Neumann. The Fords return to Centennial Conference action this Saturday as they host first-place Dickinson at 1 p.m.