Brandywine Drops A Pair To Hazleton

MEDIA, Pa. -- Penn State Hazleton got the best of Penn State Brandywine Wednesday afternoon as the visitors topped the Lions by scores of 10-3 and 4-3 in Penn State University Athletic Conference softball action at Maple Zone.

Game One: Penn State Hazleton 10, Penn State Brandywine 3

Hazleton took the lead with two runs in the first inning and put the game away by scoring four times in both the third and fifth frames.

Brandywine collected eight hits, including two each from Destiny Brophy (Bristol, Pa./Bristol) and Jacie Sparacino (Collegeville, Pa./Spring-Ford).

Brophy's first-inning single scored Meghan Ferry (Gloucester City, N.J./Gloucester City) with the Lions' first run of the game. Brophy tripled and scored on a wild pitch in the fourth, while Sarah Moore (New Holland, Pa./Pequea Valley) added a run-scoring base hit in the fifth that pushed Ferry across home to account for Brandywine's final run.

In addition to scoring twice, Ferry doubled, walked twice and stole two bases.

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

A late Brandywine rally came up short in the nightcap as Hazleton held on to win by a one-run margin.

Hazleton plated a first-inning run and tacked on three more in the second thanks to a pair of Brandywine errors.

The score remained 4-0 until the sixth inning when Sparacino collected her fourth hit of the day, a two-out single that scored Rebecca Sorrentino (Clifton Heights, Pa./Upper Darby).

Brandywine continued to rally in the seventh as Morgan Meoli (Woolwich Twp., N.J./Kingsway Regional) reached via error and moved to third on Ferry's two-base hit. Two batters later, Lianna DeDios (Elmwood Park, N.J./Memorial) made the score 4-2 with an RBI single. Another Hazleton error allowed Ferry to score and put runners on the corners with two outs, but Hazleton pitcher Rebecca Baum worked out of the jam by inducing a groundout to end the game.

Sparacino produced her second two-hit game of the day to lead the Brandywine offense, while Sorrentino fanned six Hazleton batters and yielded just two earned runs in seven innings in the circle.

Brandywine (2-4, 2-4 PSUAC) visits Penn State DuBois for the second time this spring on Tuesday at 2:00 pm.