4/4/2009 11:56:01 AM
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. - In their fourth conference doubleheader of the season, the Lady Lions dropped two close decisions to the Blue Jays of Elizabethtown College Saturday afternoon at the Nest.
Elizabethtown defeated Albright by the final scores of 9-5 in game one, and 6-4 in game two. With the losses, the red and white fell to 3-23 overall, 0-8 in the Commonwealth Conference. The Blue Jays record improved to 9-17, 2-4 in the conference.
Junior Kelli Johnson (Shoemakersville, PA/Hamburg) was amongst the team’s top hitters in Saturday’s conference doubleheader. She closed out the day with a total of four hits and four runs in seven at-bats respectively. Also making contact against the Blue Jays was freshman Becky Crandall (Mohnton, PA/Holy Name). To start off the afternoon the Mohnton, Pa. native went 3-for-4 with one RBI and one run. In the nightcap she recorded one more hit, run and RBI to end the afternoon.
Righty pitchers Dana Parolari (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater-Raritan) and Alex Tragno (New Providence, NJ/New Providence) threw every inning in their respective contests. Both pitchers recorded two strikeouts against the host team. For Elizabethtown, Julie Sebastian picked up her fifth win of the season, while Elaine Parr earned her fourth.
In the opener, the Blue Jays scored a total of seven runs in the first two innings to jump out to a 7-1 lead. Albright put up their second run of the afternoon on the scoreboard in the top half of the third inning on a RBI single from Melanie Chapman (Suffield, CT/Suffield). Chapman was also responsible for the Lions first run of the day as well.
Moving into the fifth inning, both teams recorded a pair of runs to make it 9-4 in favor of the Blue Jays. The final run of game one was scored by Crandall, after Mary Dwyer (Jacobstown, NJ/Northern Burlington) ripped a double deep into the outfield.
The nightcap proved to be an even closer contest between the two hungry teams. Elizabethtown jumped out to another early lead following a two run first inning. They then made it 3-0 after the third. Albright got their first run on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth. The Blue Jays answered right back in the bottom of the fourth with two more runs to take a 5-1 lead.
Elizabethtown’s final run of the afternoon was scored in the fifth on a RBI single from Ryan Allard. Down 6-1, the Lions knew that they had to get their bats going as soon as possible. The red and white nearly pulled off the late comeback in the top of the sixth. With some crucial errors on the part of the Blue Jays, Albright was able to score three runs to make it 6-4.
Unfortunately, the late resurgence did not last, as the Blue Jays managed to sneak by with the close win.
Softball returns to action on Wednesday when they travel to Angelica Park to face the Crusaders of Alvernia University in a non-conference doubleheader. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m. Live stats will be available and can be viewed at http://www.albright.edu/athletics/livestats/xlive.htm.