PSUAC Leaders Brandywine And Hazleton Play To Split

HAZLETON, Pa. -- The Penn State Brandywine softball team saw its 24-game winning streak against PSUAC competition come to an end following a 4-2 loss to Penn State Hazleton in game one, but rebounded by rolling to an 11-2 triumph in the nightcap, earning a doubleheader split on Thursday.

Brandywine jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opener after receiving two-out, run-scoring hits from Maddie Malfara (Ardsley, Pa./Abington) and Steph Harvey (Berlin, N.J./Eastern Regional), but Hazleton pitcher Kayla Rhome held the Lions off the scoreboard the rest of the way.

Hazleton tied the game with a pair of runs in the third and then took the lead for good following Veronica Michael's RBI single in the fourth.

Harvey, Malfara and Julie Foeldes (Kendall Park, N.J./South Brunswick) all recorded two hits, while Olivia Encarnacion (Glenolden, Pa./Interboro) pitched all seven innings, dropping to 4-3 this spring. She allowed four earned runs and struck out two.

After staking Hazleton to a 1-0 lead through one inning of game two, Brandywine answered with four runs in the second.

Harvey walked to lead off and scored on Foeldes' double. Katy Steffen (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West) followed with an RBI single, scoring Ashlee Stritzinger (Wilmington, Del./Concord), while Arianna Segich (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City) and Julia Allman (Broomall, Pa./Marple Newtown) added run-scoring groundouts later in the frame.

Brandywine added two more scores in the fourth as Segich singled in Steffen and then came around to score on Robyn Gannon's (Lansdowne, Pa./Archibishop Prendergast) two-out base hit.

Steffen got a five-run rally that put the game away for Brandywine in the fifth with a single that plated Foeldes with the aid of a Hazleton error. Jen Patterson's (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) single then scored Steffen.

Segich greeted relief pitcher Moriah Lynn with a two-run home run to right-center field, her third long ball of the season, and Gannon capped the scoring with an RBI single.

Segich went 2-for-4 with four RBI, two runs scored and a stolen base, while Gannon and Steffen both tallied three hits. Steffen also crossed home three times and Foeldes notched two more hits for a four-hit day.

Katie DeStefano (Kennett Square, Pa./Kennett) picked up her second win in two days and third of the season after limiting Hazleton to a pair of unearned runs. She struck out three and allowed just three hits in five innings in the circle.

Brandywine (10-12, 5-1 PSUAC) heads west to face Penn State Beaver Sunday at noon.