After a slight hiccup, the Muhlenberg softball team's successful start to the season continued with its biggest win to date.
The Mules (6-2) had their five-game winning streak snapped with a 6-4 loss to Penn State Berks but rebounded to defeat 18th-ranked Rhodes, 7-1.
Freshman
Cora Bridgers tossed a three-hitter, striking out 10, and junior
Sarah Schubert hit her second career home run against the Lynx (13-3), who came in with a .363 team batting average while outscoring their first 15 opponents 109-31.
Bridgers pitched her fourth straight complete game, taking a no-hitter into the fourth. Rhodes scratched out a run on a walk, stolen base, wild pitch and single in the fifth, but Bridgers allowed nothing else, ending the game with back-to-back strikeouts.
Schubert drove in the game's first run with a sacrifice fly and gave Muhlenberg the lead for good with a two-run blast to straightaway center in the fourth. An RBI single by senior
Allyson Sweeney the following inning knocked out the Rhodes starting pitcher, who had not allowed more than one earned run in any game this season before giving up four to the Mules.
Muhlenberg put the game out of reach with three runs in the bottom of the sixth, with freshmen
Madison Amdur,
Sarah Karmazyn and
Kristin Oberg delivering RBIs.
Karmazyn, Sweeney and senior
Kristina Qualben all had two hits in the game, with Qualben hitting a double for her eighth extra-base hit in as many games.
A pair of three-run innings were the Mules' undoing in the Penn State Berks game. Oberg, Sweeney and Schubert recorded two hits apiece, and junior
Nicole Bergamo finished out the game with 2 2/3 hitless innings in relief.
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