AMBLER, Pa. -
Christine Scherr (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) and Kaitie Schumacher (San
Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch) had four hits and a home run each as the Monmouth
University softball team split with Temple, Wednesday afternoon at Ambler
Field. The Owls took Game 1, 3-0, before the Hawks salvaged the split with a
five-run sixth inning to win Game 2, 8-7. With the split the Hawks move to
17-15, while the Owls are now 20-18.
Schumacher finished the afternoon
4-for-7 with a home run and three RBI's, while Scherr went 4-for-8 with a
double, home run, four RBI's and two runs scored. Kayleena Flores (Atwater,
Calif./Buhach Colony) also collected two hits for the Hawks.
Alissa Schoelkopf (Sewell,
N.J./Washington Township) picked up the Game 2 win in the circle, her third
victory in as many starts for the Hawks. Schoelkopf went the distance,
scattering 10 hits and five walks, while striking out four. Just three of the
seven runs tagged against her were earned. Lauren Sulick (Canfield,
Ohio/Canfield) took the Game 1 loss, allowing three runs, two earned, on three
hits and four walks, while striking out four. Jordan Barnett (Eads, Colo./Eads
[Garden City C.C.] pitched well in relief, keeping the Owls off the scoreboard in
three innings while limiting them to two hits and two walks. She struck out
one.
The Owls immediately jumped
on top in the first inning of Game 1. Ali Robinson tripled to lead off bottom
half of the inning before scoring an unearned run on a throwing error. In the
third, Samantha Schoell started a two-out rally with a double down the left
field line. Sarah Prezioso then singled and stole second to put runners on
second and third. Three consecutive walks pushed across the second and third
Temple runs of the day, before Sulick got out of the jam with a strikeout.
The three runs would be more
than enough support for Temple starting pitcher Brooklin White, who limited the
Hawks to three hits without walking a batter in a complete-game shutout. White
struck out nine.
In Game 2, first-inning
singles by Tish Derer (Philadelphia, Pa./Saint Basil Academy) and Schumacher
set the table for Kayla Weiser (Vandergrift, Pa./Kiski Area), whose double to
left scored Derer to put the Hawks on top, 1-0. Temple responded with three
runs in the bottom of the first. Robinson led off the inning with a homer to
left, before a pair of one-out singles resulted in runners on second and third.
Following a strikeout for the second out, two runs scored on a fielding error
to put Temple on top, 3-1, after one inning.
The Hawks immediately got the
two unearned runs back on Scherr's two-out, two-run home run to right center in
the top of the second. Temple retook the advantage, 4-3, in the bottom of the
second on its third two-out, bases-loaded walk of the afternoon.
After two scoreless innings,
Temple tacked two runs onto its lead in the fifth on three hits and an error.
But the Hawks erupted for five runs in the top of the sixth, taking the lead
for good. Fifth-inning defensive replacement Jenna Jaquish (Highland,
Calif./Redlands East Valley) started the rally with a one-out walk, before
Alicia DeSanto (Upper Darby, Pa./Upper Darby) reached on a fielding error to put
runners on first and second. Scherr made the error hurt with a two-RBI double
to right center. Scherr advanced to third on a wild pitch, before Derer reached
on a fielder's choice in which no out was recorded. Schumacher then cleared the
bases and capped the rally with a three-run home run to left to put the Hawks
on top, 8-6.
The Owls scratched across one
run in the seventh and loaded the bases with two outs, but Schoelkopf induced a
groundout to second base to preserve the victory.
The Hawks return to Northeast
Conference action Saturday, when they travel to Bryant. First pitch from
Smithfield, R.I., is scheduled for 1 p.m.
