Brandywine Splits Series Finale At Schuylkill

SCHUYLKILL HAVEN, Pa. – The Penn State Brandywine softball team had to settle for five victories during its six-game series with Penn State Schuylkill after splitting the final two games Saturday afternoon. Brandywine took the opener 5-1 in eight innings before Schuylkill rallied to win the nightcap 4-3.

Game One: Penn State Brandywine 5, Penn State Schuylkill 0 (8 innings)

Brandywine and Schuylkill needed extra innings to settle game one after playing a scoreless first seven frames.

The Lions finally broke through for five runs in the top of the eighth. Payton Landis (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville) broke the scoreless tie with a two-run double and came around to score on Haley Grossi's (Monmouth Junction, N.J./South Brunswick) base hit. Two batters later, Grossi crossed home on Sarah Moore's (New Holland, Pa./Pequea Valley) groundout, while Jacie Sparacino (Collegeville, Pa./Spring-Ford) capped the scoring with an RBI single.

Rebecca Sorrentino (Clifton Heights, Pa./Upper Darby) blanked Schuylkill over 7.0 innings before allowing an eighth inning score to improve to 5-1 this spring. She went all eight innings, striking out four, while allowing seven hits.

Brandywine recorded 14 hits offensively. Sparacino, Rachel Cherubini (Pottstown, Pa./Pottsgrove) and Lianna DeDios (Elmwood Park, N.J./Memorial) all tallied three-hit games, while Destiny Brophy (Bristol, Pa./Bristol) produced a pair of singles.

Game Two: Penn State Schuylkill 4, Penn State Brandywine 3

Rebecca Halford (Garnet Valley, Pa./Garnet Valley) saw her consecutive scoreless innings streak end at 22.0 after Schuylkill plated a pair of first inning runs to grab a 2-1 lead. Brandywine had opened the scoring in the top of the first with a two-out RBI single from Sorrentino.

The Lions jumped back on top in the fifth as Brophy delivered a two-run single to make the count 3-2; however, Schuylkill answered with a pair of solo home runs during the sixth inning to claim the final game of the six-game set.

Brandywine was limited to five hits, including DeDios' fourth hit of the day. Halford suffered the loss after allowing four runs on nine hits in a complete-game effort.

Brandywine (9-5, 9-5 PSUAC) plays its next six games against Penn State Scranton beginning with Monday's 3:00 pm doubleheader at Maple Zone.