PHILADELPHIA- The La Salle softball team complete the three game sweep of Rhode Island with an 8-4 win on Sunday afternoon at West Campus Field.
Junior
Mary Cate Scott came on in relief and threw 4.2 scoreless innings allowing only a pair of hits while striking out four and earning the win.
Sophomores
Christina Bascara and
Suzanne Swanicke blasted homers in the sixth inning to help La Salle (9-8, 7-2 A-10) pull away from the Rams.
"We won that game on determination and that is a big step for us," said head coach
Ron Shoemaker. "Sweeping someone in a three game series is hard. I think we were a little unfocused but we found a way to find it inside of them and I could see it in their eyes, even though we were losing they never thought we were losing that game."
La Salle jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning thanks to a pair of hits and taking advantage of a pair of errors from the Rams. Bascara started the two out rally with a double to left field and would later score after a wild pitch and error by the third baseman allowed her to come around from second. Swanicke would follow that up with a walk. She was able to advance from first to third by stealing second and advancing to third as the ball got by the second baseman. Senior
Alicia Aughton would bring her in thanks to a single through the right side of the infield.
The Rams would strike right back with four runs of their own in the top of the second. Rhode Island plated the runs on a pair of hits and pair of errors from the Explorers.
La Salle would tie things up in the bottom of the third with a pair of runs. Senior
Linnette Siedler started off the inning with an infield single beating out a chopper to the shortstop. After a pair of walks Aughton singled through the left side of the infield to bring home Siedler. Swanicke who had walked earlier in the inning ultimately scored on a fielder's choice by freshman
Valerie Pineiro.
The Explorers added another in the bottom of the fourth. Bascara singled to right field to bring home sophomore
Michelle Hagarty who had reached on a fielder's choice earlier in the inning. This made things 5-4 in the Explorers favor, a lead that they wouldn't give away.
The three run sixth inning was what ultimately put away the game for the Explorers. After Siedler led off the inning with a walk Bascara homered to left field. Not to be outdone Swanicke followed that up with a homer to right field for back-to-back shots from La Salle. This made things 8-4 Explorers.
"Christina came up with Linnette on first after a walk," added Shoemaker. "I'm thinking one more run would be nice should I sacrifice bunt, before I can even think about it she hits the ball 280 feet for a two run homer. That took the pressure off of me."
La Salle recorded ten hits on the day with seven different Explorers recording hits. Siedler, Swanicke, and Bascara all reached base three times on the day.
Scott entered the game with a runner on first in the third inning but was able to grab consecutive outs to get La Salle out of the inning.
"For Mary Cate to go 4.2 with four strikeouts and no walks to hold those guys off the board that's very big for that," stated Shoemaker. "It certainly took some pressure off of us."
The Explorers return to action on Tuesday as they head to Villanova for a 3:30 game against the Big 5 rival. They also host UMBC and Drexel in doubleheaders on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.
