Brandywine Knocks Off Scranton At PSUAC Tournament

HAZLETON, Pa. – Top-seeded Penn State Brandywine scored a decisive 11-1 victory in its opening game at the PSUAC Tournament against No. 5 Penn State Scranton late on Saturday night. The Lions advanced to face No. 2 Hazleton in a winner's bracket game at 1:00 pm on Sunday.

Steph Harvey (Berlin, N.J./Eastern Regional), Maddie Malfara (Ardsley, Pa./Abington) and Arianna Segich (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City) all recorded two hits. Malfara and Harvey both knocked in two and scored twice, while Julia Allman (Broomall, Pa./Marple Newtown) and Ashlee Stritzinger (Wilmington, Del./Concord) each crossed home twice.

Olivia Encarnacion (Glenolden, Pa./Interboro) earned her ninth win of the season after striking out seven, one shy of her season high, in five innings. Encarnacion brought a no-hitter into the fifth inning before it was broken up by a leadoff double.

Allman scored from second base on a ground out to give Brandywine a 1-0 lead in the first. Katy Steffen (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West) sent her third home run of the season, a three-run shot, over the left field fence in the second inning to extend the lead to 4-0.

Harvey tallied run-scoring hits in the third and fourth frames, while Malfara added a two-run double during the Lions' five-run fourth and Segich capped the scoring with an RBI base hit.

Brandywine and Hazleton split two games at Hazleton earlier this season. Brandywine defeated Hazleton twice in last year's PSUAC Tournament en route to its first conference title.