CAMDEN, NJ - The La Salle softball team (5-5) split a pair of games with Maryland-Baltimore County (16-4) at a gusty Rutgers-Camden Community Park. The Explorers won the first game 3-2 in extra innings, as a throwing error brought home the winning run in the bottom of the eighth. UMBC took the second game, 10-1, forcing an early ending with a four-run fifth inning.

 

In the first game, the Explorers fell behind 2-0 in the top of the third after UMBC's Ashlea Underwood scored on a delayed steal and Kali Shirk came home on an error. La Salle got on the board in the bottom half of the inning when Danielle Signorelli (Jenkintown, PA/St. Basil) hit a triple to deep center field to score Kate Gulkis (Philadelphia, PA/St. Basil), who had reached on a single. Signorelli doubled in the sixth, and scored when Laura DeZolt (Morrisville, PA/Conwell-Egan Catholic) grounded to pitcher Krista Kearns, who threw the ball away.

 

In the bottom of the eighth, DeZolt led off with a single. Then, with two outs Jen Street (Coatesville, PA/Bishop Shanahan) hit a dribbler to third base and UMBC's Reilly Ward threw the ball over the head of Melanie Denischuk, allowing DeZolt to score the winning run.

 

DeZolt improved to 4-1 with the win. The junior struck out nine and allowed only two hits.

 

In the second game, UMBC again jumped out to an early lead, scoring a run in the top of the first. Shirk singled to lead off. She stole second and took off for third on the next pitch, scoring on catcher Michelle Sullivan's (Gibbstown, NJ/Paulsboro) errant throw. In the third inning Courtney O'Hara hit a ball into deep left field that found open spaces for an inside-the-park homerun, stretching the Retriever lead to 2-0.

 

After allowing three consecutive two-out singles in the fourth, La Salle pitcher Carissa Segura (Santa Maria, CA/Ernest Righetti) served up a grand slam to Michelle Olivieri, making the score 6-0. The Explorers answered back in the bottom of the inning when Sullivan drilled a solo shot to left off Lauren Nicholson.

 

Segura found trouble in the top of the fifth inning. She allowed a two-run double to Denischuk with no outs. The next hitter, Reilly Ward drove a two-run shot into the left-field bleachers to stretch the Retrievers' lead to 10-1. After the Explorers failed to score in the bottom of the fifth, the eight-run rule was invoked.

 

La Salle will take part in the Bash at the Beach Tournament this weekend, hosted by Delaware State. On Friday, March 17, the Explorers will take on Providence at 9:00 a.m., and Saint Peter's at 3:00 p.m.