Brandywine Shuts Down Rosemont In Sweep

ROSEMONT, Pa. -- Grace DeRosa (Glenside, Pa./Cheltenham) fired a complete-game shutout and Olivia Encarnacion (Glenolden, Pa./Interboro) came within two outs of a shutout of her own as the Penn State Brandywine softball team claimed both ends of a doubleheader at Rosemont on Thursday afternoon. The Lions won game one by a 9-0 count and took game two 12-1.

DeRosa limited Rosemont to three hits and struck out four over five innings in the circle to post her first shutout of the season. She upped her record to 5-5 this spring.

Encarnacion blanked the Ravens over the first 4 1/3 innings before an error allowed Rosemont to plate an unearned run. She finished the game with six strikeouts, winning for the sixth time this season.

Brandywine's offense was also strong, pounding out 30 hits during the doubleheader.

Steph Harvey (Berlin, N.J./Eastern Regional) went 3-for-3 during game one, one of five Lions with multi-hit efforts, and collected five hits overall, while Julie Foeldes (Kendall Park, N.J./South Brunswick) led seven players with at least two hits by going 3-for-4 at the plate in the nightcap. Ashlee Stritzinger (Wilmington, Del./Concord) produced four hits, two in each game, along with four runs batted in.

Harvey started a five-run first inning with an RBI single and Stritzinger followed by knocking in two with a base hit before Katie DeStefano (Kennett Square, Pa./Kennett) capped the frame with a run-scoring single.

Maddie Malfara's (Ardsley, Pa./Abington) single scored Arianna Segich (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City) to make the score 6-0 in the second and Malfara came around to score on a Harvey double later in the frame.

In the fourth, Stritzinger added an RBI double that plated Harvey and one inning later, Julia Allman (Broomall, Pa./Marple Newtown) singled in Segich to close out the scoring.

Game two started just like the opener as Brandywine plated five runs before Rosemont could come to the plate and then added a pair of second-inning runs.

Runs scored on singles by Foeldes and Harvey before Katy Steffen (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West) delivered a three-run triple in the first.

Steffen added an RBI double during the fourth inning, while DeStefano recorded run-scoring hits in the second and fourth.

Segich scored five runs on the day, while Harvey crossed home three times and drove in three. After tossing a shutout in game one, DeRosa went 2-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored and an RBI in game two.

Brandywine (14-14) faces Widener in Chester on Friday afternoon at 4:00 pm.