Staff Writer
With only two weeks left in the regular season, the F&M women’s softball team looks to make one final surge to end their season on a positive note. Winners of six of the last eight games, the Dips are gaining confidence as they approach the latter part of their season. This past week F&M was able to sweep Penn State-Abington and take one game against Haverford.
F&M came out with its two most dominant performances of the year on Tuesday, scoring a total of 30 runs. The Dips were able to punch out 13 runs on 14 hits in their first game against Penn State Abington. The pitching performance by Kaitlin Zampino ’14 was equally as impressive as she was able to hold Penn State Abington to only one run on three hits. F&M was able to cruise to a 13-1 victory.
The Dips were able to take a commanding 7-1 lead after three innings. F&M’s offense started from the top of their lineup with their leadoff hitter, shortstop, Malorie Sassaman ’14 going 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs batted in and two runs scored. In the fifth inning F&M was able to put together a six-run scoring outburst and ended the game via mercy rule. Catcher Caitlin Burst ’14 had a very solid game knocking in three runs with two doubles and three runs scored. Center fielder Danielle Murphy ’13 also went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, two runs scored to lead the Dips to a 13-1 victory.
In the second game against Penn State Abington, the Dips didn’t waste any time jumping out to an early lead. F&M’s offense came out strong with a four-run inning in the top of the first. In the top of the third inning, the Dips exploded for a season-high nine runs. After this scoring barrage, the Dips never looked back and sailed to an easy victory, winning 17-5 over Penn State Abington. Nicole Casey ’14, Sam DeNoville ’14, Julianne Whitleigh ’13 and Ashley Hartshorn ’14 led F&M with two RBIs each. Starting pitcher, Justine Lohrey ’15 shut out Penn State Abington over five innings, and added six strikeouts in the process.
After a successful two-game sweep against Penn State Abington, the Dips headed into their series against Haverford with a lot of confidence. The Haverford Fords (18-10,5-5 CC) are one of the tougher teams in the CC and provided a strong test for the Dips. However, the Fords were no match for the Dips in the first game, as starting pitcher Zampino stifled the bats of Haverford. Zampino shut out the Fords for six innings until finally allowing one run in the top of the seventh. She pitched a complete game, allowing only three hits and struck out six batters.
Casey led the offense for F&M going 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs. Casey started off the scoring in the bottom of the first with an RBI single, scoring Sassaman who led off the frame with a triple.
In the bottom of the fifth Casey, again provided the Dips with another clutch hit to put F&M’s lead at 3-0. With the way that Zampino was pitching, this was more than enough insurance for her to finish off the victory for F&M.
In the second game of the series, Haverford was able to get by the Dips, coming out with a 5-4 victory. Zampino was not as dominant on the mound this game, as she lasted only 4.2 innings, but instead provided offense for the Dips by launching a two-run homerun in the bottom of the second. This was a second of the season and it put F&M up 2-0.
Haverford would later tie the game in the top of the fourth but the Dips rallied to retake the lead at 3-2, behind a sacrifice fly from Murphy, scoring Liz Middleton ’14.
In a back and forth affair, Haverford gained the lead back with a two-run homerun in the top of the fifth. F&M responded with a RBI double from Hartshorn to tie the game at four in the bottom part of the frame. In the top of the sixth, Haverford would add one more run off relief pitcher Lohrey and the Fords would hold on to the 5-4 victory.
F&M has been on a hot streak lately and will look to continue their success as the Dips return to action on Tuesday at Gettysburg.
Questions? Email Mark at mdourmas@fandm.edu.