HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College softball team (8-19-1, 2-8-1 CC) split a pair of Centennial Conference games with Muhlenberg (7-221, 1-10 CC), on a gorgeous and sunny Tuesday afternoon at Class of '95 Field. The Fords won game one 5-4, before dropping game two 7-4.
Haverford 5, Muhlenberg 4
Kyra Van Denburgh drove in a team-high two runs, while flashing the leather in several key situations at the hot corner in the field. Grace Stowe recorded one hit, a run, and an RBI, while racking up a whopping seven assists at second base.
The Mules tagged Finkele for one run in the first frame, before the Fords hung a five-spot on Muhlenberg pitcher Justine Bergara. Following a Lauren Martin walk, Mia Kessinger blasted a double to right-center field, scoring Martin, to level the game at 1-1. After an Addie Sapirstein single put runners on the corners, Stowe knocked in Kessinger with an RBI single, to give the Fords a 2-1 lead. An Abby Litchfield walk loaded the bases, before a Van Denburgh single plated home Sapirstien and Stowe. Litchfield came around to score from first on that same play following an error in the outfield, giving the Scarlet and Black a commanding 5-1 lead.
Gillian Zack led off the top of the second with a solo shot to pull one run back for Muhlenberg, before Bergara forced a zero out of the Fords on the scoreboard for the bottom of the second.
Bergara then began to settle in, shutting the Fords down offensively in innings three and four, before the Mules began to chip away at the Haverford lead in the fifth. Sophia Cicchetti launched a two-run home run scoring Jane Banahan to chop down the Scarlet and Black lead to just 5-4 with two innings remaining.
Finkele was able to produce a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the sixth, before the Fords once again were silenced by Bergara in the bottom half of the sixth.
Dara DiMaiolo began the seventh inning with a single, before a Gabby Colder pop-up gave Haverford the first out. After a sacrifice bunt from Brianna Kessler, Sophia Jacobson got thrown out trying to go from first to third, sealing the deal for the hosts, as Haverford collected the 5-4 victory in game one. The win was the Fords' second Centennial Conference win of the season.
Muhlenberg 7, Haverford 4
Game two saw Van Denburgh follow up her game one performance with two more runs driven in, while the Fords had four different players pick up two hits each in the second contest.
After Rachel McQueen got out of a jam in the first inning, Haverford struck first in the second game with an RBI groundout from Lauren Martin, to go up 1-0. The Scarlet and Black continued the scoring in the second inning, as a Van Denburgh groundout plated Addie Sapirstein to make the score 2-0 in favor of the hosts.
Muhlenberg put up runs in the fourth and fifth innings to deadlock the game at 2-2, before the Fords added a run in the fifth off a Mia Kessinger RBI double, to reclaim the lead, 3-2.
In the top of the sixth, Gillian Zach slapped a ball to shortstop with Ava Calabrese on third and Sophia Cichetti at second. The chopper got the best of Jocelyn Leal at shortstop allowing two runs to score as the Mules took their first lead of the ballgame, 4-3. Following a Lillie Tegaue walk, Kaya Mahy roped a two-bagger down the right field line that scored Zach and Teague, to extend the visitors lead to 6-3.
Haveford pulled one run back in the fifth off a sacrifice fly from Van Denburgh, but an insurance run that came from a Sophia Cichetti RBI single proved to be the final run of the contest, as Muhlenberg took home a 7-4 victory.
Softball will be back in action Thursday, as the Cavaliers of Cabrini make the short trip to Class of '95 Field for the final time. Game one of the non-conference doubleheader begins at 3 p.m.