Doubles, double plays and more brilliance from freshman
Cora Bridgers added up to a 2-0 day for the Muhlenberg softball team on its final day in Florida.
By defeating St. Joseph's-Brooklyn, 7-6, and Mass.-Dartmouth, 4-0, the Mules ended their extraordinarily successful trip with a record of 10-2 - their most wins ever on Spring Break. Just a week into the season, they are only two away from their win total of all last year.
One of the reasons for the success has been Bridgers, who pitched her second consecutive one-hitter in the Mass.-Dartmouth game. She allowed only four baserunners and had her bid for a no-hitter broken up by a leadoff single in the seventh. Bridgers struck out 12, breaking her seven-day-old school record for strikeouts by a freshman, in her sixth straight complete-game win. She is the first Muhlenberg pitcher to fan a dozen in a shutout since 1991.
The Mules jumped out to an early lead in the game, scoring three runs in the top of the first. Freshman
Sarah Karmazyn led off with a single and eventually scored on an error. Senior
Kristina Qualben drove in the second run with a double off the fence in center, and Bridgers brought in the final run with a groundout.
Senior
Allyson Sweeney singled in the final run in the second.
Muhlenberg took an early lead in the first game as well, scoring five times on a three-run double by sophomore
Elise Enslin and a two-run homer by junior
Sarah Schubert, her second round-tripper of the season. St. Joseph's came back, however, with six runs in the third.
It was still 6-5 when the Mules came to bat in the bottom of the fifth. With one out, Sweeney
(pictured above) doubled, and freshman pinch-runner
Madison Amdur came around to score the tying run on a double by Qualben. After Enslin singled her to third, Qualben scored the winning run on a passed ball.
The one-run lead stood up due to the pitching of sophomore
Sophie Chong, who earned the win with 4 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. She allowed exactly one baserunner in each of her four complete innings, and in three of the frames, the runner was erased on a double play. Chong started 1-6-3 double plays in the fifth and seventh, and freshman
Sarah Raab turned a 6-4-3 twin killing in the fourth.