LANCASTER, Pa. – The Haverford College softball team (12-12, 2-4 CC) was upended in a pair of very different games on Saturday at the Baker Campus Fields on the campus of Franklin & Marshall College. Haverford dropped a 3-2 duel before the Diplomats (6-13, 2-2 CC) outlasted a relentless Fords team in a 12-11, nine-inning thriller in the late afternoon contest. Rachel McQueen got the ball to start Game 2 and notably logged her 100th career strikeout in the second inning.
Game 1: Franklin & Marshall 3, Haverford 2
A late-game wild pitch proved costly as Haverford fell 3-2 to Franklin & Marshall in the first of two. Haverford twice tied the game but couldn't find the go-ahead run, ultimately undone in the sixth when a wild pitch allowed the go-ahead score to cross for the Diplomats.
The Fords opened the scoring in the second inning after senior Kamaha'o Bode drew a walk and later came around to score on a single up the middle by Kyra Van Denburgh. But Franklin & Marshall responded immediately, tying the game with a solo home run from Jaden Spigner in the bottom half of the inning.
The Diplomats added another in the third, capitalizing on a sequence of three straight singles with one out. A run-scoring hit from Kate Delgrippo gave F&M the 2-1 edge, though Haverford executed a sharp relay to cut down a runner at the plate and prevent further damage in the frame.
Maddie Etheridge sparked Haverford again in the sixth with a leadoff single, eventually scoring on a two-out RBI single from Jocelyn Leal to level the game at 2-2. However, the tie was short-lived. After a leadoff double by Grace Header in the bottom of the inning, Sullivan singled up the middle, advancing Header to third. Header came around to score on a wild pitch with two outs.
Haverford put the tying run on base in the seventh thanks to a two-out single by Lauren Martin, but a failed steal attempt ended the threat and the game.
Lauren Lamme went the distance for the Fords, allowing 10 hits and three earned runs over six innings with three strikeouts. Despite taking the loss, she kept the Fords within striking distance with another quality start.
Etheridge led Haverford with a 2-for-3 performance and a run scored. Leal and Van Denburgh each drove in a run, but the Fords were limited to five hits by F&M starter Ainsley McClure, who struck out four and walked two in a complete-game win.
Game 2: Franklin & Marshall 12, Haverford 11 (9 innings)
Franklin & Marshall pushed a run across in the first inning, plated five more in the second, and added another in the third to jump out to a commanding 7-0 lead.
From that point, the Fords went to work with a six-run fourth inning to pull within one. Addie Sapirstein and Maddie Etheridge singled in succession to bring Bode to the dish. Bode reached on an error, and Van Denburgh then plated a run with a fielder's choice. Leal followed with a two-RBI single up the middle to plate Bode and Etheridge.
Kessinger walked, and another fielder's choice off the bat of Lauren Martin plated another run. Kyle Morano laced a pinch-hit single into right, and Abby Litchfield delivered an RBI groundout. When all was said and done in the frame, Haverford had tallied four hits and six runs to nearly erase the deficit.
The hosts added two runs in the fifth, with Nora Sidorski and Natalia Garza reaching base ahead of a single from Gabby Mundy and a sacrifice fly from Alexa Klepper. The Fords' bats were silenced in the sixth, going down in order, but Haverford rallied for four runs in the top of the seventh to take the lead.
Abby Litchfield singled, and Sapirstein moved her into scoring position with a groundout. Etheridge followed with a single, and Bode walked to load the bases. Van Denburgh launched a single up the middle to plate a pair, and after Leal reached on an error, Kessinger walked with the bases loaded. Kyle Morano gave the Fords the lead with a single into right field as, suddenly, Haverford was in command, up 10-9.
Franklin & Marshall was able to plate a run in the seventh, with Klepper doing the damage to tie the contest, but Bodak wiggled out of further trouble. The game entered international tiebreaker rules in the eighth inning, with Haverford pushing the "ghost runner" across on an RBI groundout. F&M responded in the bottom of the frame with a Megan Wiarda RBI single.
The game reached the ninth, with Haverford held scoreless in the top half. Jocelyn Leal laid down a sacrifice bunt, but Kate Delgrippo struck out a pair to hold the Fords off the board.
After Catie Kozub moved the ghost runner, Sidorski, to third with a bunt, Mundy delivered a sacrifice fly to end the contest.
Etheridge had three hits in the game, while Van Denburgh added three RBI. Bodak was charged with the tough-luck loss after scattering three hits and no earned runs with three strikeouts over 3.2 innings of relief work.
Haverford continues Centennial Conference play on Tuesday, April 8, at Washington College. First pitch of Game 1 in Chestertown is slated for 3 p.m.