Softball: Garnet Hurlers Mow Down Philly Bible
3/30: Garnet Hurlers Mow Down Philly Bible
SWARTHMORE, Pa. -- Swarthmore junior Marianne Klingaman threw her first shut-out of the season in a 14-0 game one victory over Philadelphia Biblical and freshman Alexandra Zelaski followed up by striking a career-high 11 batters in a 13-0 Swarthmore victory in the second game in non-conference action on Thursday afternoon.
Continuing a break-out season for Swarthmore softball, the Garnet (11-8) reached 11 victories in the shortest time since the 1990 season, when Swarthmore earned win #11 in the 15th game of the season.
In the first game on Thursday, the Garnet put up four runs off PBU starter Bethany Hill in the first inning and never looked back, scoring in each of their four times at bat.
Sophomore shortstop Katie Gold drove in a game-high four runs; senior Christina Procacci had a hit, scored once, and drove in three more; and classmate Stephanie Rogan cracked two hits, scored three times, and drove in a pair of runs. Junior third baseman Melissa LaVan contributed two hits with two runs while freshman second baseman Christine Sendelsky tripled, drove in a pair of runs, and scored twice.
Brittany Sparling had two hits for Philadelphia Biblical (0-12).
Klingaman (3-2) mowed through the Eagle hitters, spreading three hits over five innings while not allowing a runner to reach third base. Klingaman struck out seven PBU batters on her way to the fifth shut-out of her career.
The 14 runs is the most totaled by a Garnet squad since an 18-2 win over Lehman on April 18, 1998.
Game two featured more Swarthmore scoring on offense and a controlled Zelaski on the mound. The freshman allowed only two hits, including a rocket off the bat of Eagles' Kaleigh Smith that caught Zelaski by suprise, hitting the pitcher's glove and squirting away for an infield hit in the second. Zelaski re-gained her composure and proceeded to strike out eight of the next ten batters, including a run of six in a row.
It was the second consecutive shut-out for Zelaksi (5-2 and her third of the season. The freshman right-hander has now gone 12 straight innings without allowing a run, dropping her team-leading ERA to 1.97.
The Garnet offense got on the board early and often in game two, scoring five runs off five hits in the first inning. Swarthmore added another run in the second when Procacci came home on a wild pitch.
Gold's bases-loaded triple in the third highlighted a six-run inning that gave Zelaski plenty of room to work with.
Gold was 2-for-3 with four more RBIs while Miller was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Junior Kelly Siano scored three times while Procacci was 1-for-2 with a walk, an RBI, and two runs.
Gold, with eight RBIs on the day raised her season total to a team-leading 20 runs driven in, easily surpassing her previous career-high of 12 in 2005.
Procacci is also enjoying a career-year, already surpassing her career-highs in runs (14), RBIs (15), and on-base percentage (.542). The senior catcher drew a pair of walks on Thursday and now has 88 base on balls in 140 career games (0.629 BB/G). She now stands in a tie for 11th all-time in Division III with Melissa Roberts from Emory (Ga.) University.
Swarthmore travels to Reading, Pa. this Saturday, April 1 to take on Alvernia in non-conference action. The doubleheader is set to start at 1:00 p.m. The Garnet return home on Tuesday, April 4 to open the Centennial Conferece-portion of their schedule against 2005 champion Ursinus. First pitch is set for 3:00 p.m.