DeRosa No-Hits SUNY Canton In USCAA Opener

AKRON, Ohio – For the fourth time this season, Grace DeRosa (Glenside, Pa./Cheltenham) held an opponent hitless as the Penn State Brandywine softball team opened the USCAA World Series in style, routing SUNY Canton 10-0 in five innings on Monday afternoon.

DeRosa, who threw 41 of her 64 pitches for strikes, fanned five as she earned her ninth victory of the season. She set down the Roos in order over the first three innings before allowing a leadoff walk to begin the fourth. The Roos' baserunner was quickly eliminated on a double play as DeRosa faced the minimum number of batters in five innings of work.

Just two balls left the infield against DeRosa, a fly out to Arianna Segich (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City) to begin the first and a pop out to left field snagged by Katie DeStefano (Kennett Square, Pa./Kennett) to end the game.

The no-hitter was the first thrown at the USCAA Tournament since May 16, 2016 when Cleary no-hit Penn State Beaver and also posted a 10-0, opening-round victory.

While Canton could not get into the hit column against DeRosa, Brandywine had no issues as the Lions collected 15 hits. 

Julie Foeldes (Kendall Park, N.J./South Brunswick) matched tournament records with four hits and two doubles and drove in three runs. Nikki Velez (Gloucester, N.J./Gloucester City) and Maura Moser (Northampton, Pa./Northampton Area) each collected three hits. Velez also recorded three RBI, while DeStefano and Alexa Anderson (West Deptford, N.J./West Deptford) added two hits apiece.

After a scoreless first inning, Brandywine strung together four-straight hits to start the second, the last of which was a two-run single off the bat of Velez.

DeStefano tripled to begin the third and scored on Anderson's sacrifice fly. After Foeldes doubled, Moser plated her with a base hit. Moser then scored on a double from Velez to up the lead to 5-0.

The Lions tacked on a sixth run when Anderson tripled and came around to score on Foeldes' bunt single, before scoring four more times in the fifth. Brandywine took advantage of three Roos' errors to plate the first two runs in the fifth before Foeldes capped the scoring with a two-run double.

Brandywine (22-13), the No. 5 seed in the 10-team tournament, is back on the field Tuesday against either St. Mary of the Woods or Cincinnati-Clermont at 4:00 pm.