Landis Joins 100-Hit Club; Brandywine Plays To Split

CLERMONT, Fla. – Payton Landis (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville) recorded the 100^th hit of her career as the Penn State Brandywine softball team split two games in Clermont on Tuesday. The Lions defeated West Virginia Wesleyan 16-6 in six innings before falling 4-3 in extra innings against Spring Arbor.

Game One: Penn State Brandywine 16, West Virginia Wesleyan 6 (6 innings)

Brandywine slugged its way to a victory in the opener, collecting three home runs and seven extra-base hits in a 16-6 victory.

Meghan Ferry (Gloucester, N.J./Gloucester City) led the 18-hit parade with a 4-for-5 effort as she fell a double shy of the cycle. Ferry scored four times and drove in five runs, including a three-run home run to bring the game to a close in the sixth inning.

Kaylee Mushinski (Allentown, N.J./Allentown) and Payton Landis (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville) also went deep for the Lions, hitting back-to-back bombs during a six-run fifth inning. Mushinski totaled three RBI and had a pair of knocks, one of six Lions with at least two hits.

Jess James (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) recorded three hits and scored twice, while Emily Reagan (Harrisburg, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) tallied two hits, three RBI and three runs. Lianna DeDios (Elmwood Park, N.J./Elmwood Park Memorial) produced two hits, two runs batted in and scored twice and Destiny Brophy (Bristol, Pa./Bristol) posted two knocks.

Brandywine took a two-run lead in the first on a run-scoring single from Mushinski and a steal of home by Ferry. The Lions added four more runs one frame later as DeDios and Reagan each drove in two with knocks.

Wesleyan battled back to tie the count at 6-6 through three innings, but Ferry took advantage of a Bobcat error to score the go-ahead run in the fourth.

Reagan recorded an RBI single and Ferry a two-run triple before Mushinski and Landis went deep as  Brandywine blew the game open in the fifth.

April Lewandowski (Atco, N.J./Hammonton) earned the win in relief after holding Wesleyan scoreless over the final three innings. She struck out one and scattered three hits.

Game Two: Spring Arbor 4, Penn State Brandywine 3 (8 innings)

Spring Arbor's Emmalee Hamp hit a two-out, two-run home run to walk the Cougars off with a 4-3 victory over Brandywine during the Lions' second game of the day.

Brandywine had taken a 3-2 lead during the top of the frame when Mushinski's one-out single scored Reagan.

Landis entered Brandywine's 100-hit club in the fourth inning when she laced a single into left field. She is the ninth Brandywine softball player with 100 career hits during the 10-year history of the program.

Landis' single was one of just two hits for the Lions through five innings, but Brandywine got the offense going in the sixth, scoring twice on four knocks. Ferry and Mushinski started the frame with consecutive singles before Landis drove in Ferry with a double. Two batters later, Lewandowski delivered an RBI single that tied the score at 2-2 and helped send the game to extra innings.

Landis and Mushinski both recorded two hits to lead the Brandywine offense. Crystal Cassario (Levittown, Pa./Pennsbury) went the distance in the circle. She recorded two strikeouts, while allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits in 7.2 innings.

Following an off day, Brandywine closes out its Spring Break trip Thursday against Wheaton (2:00 PM) and Bluffton (4:30 PM).