PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle softball team put together a pair of hard-fought performances on Saturday afternoon, falling to Penn by margins of 3-0 and 8-5 at La Salle Softball Field.
PENN 3, LA SALLE 0
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- The Quakers scored a run in the first after Emma Nedley led off with a double and scored on a throwing error by the Explorers.
- Two more runs came across for the visitors in the second, with Ashley Waco and Nedley each registering RBI singles.
- La Salle had three runners in scoring position over the first four innings, but could not come through with the timely hit.
- Sophomore Victoria Zatko doubled in both the first and fourth innings, and freshman Maddy Little reached second thanks to a bunt single and stolen base.
- Penn pitcher Julia Longo was up to the task, stranding all three runners and four in total while retiring the final 10 batters she faced.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Zatko went 2-for-3 and was the lone Explorer to register multiple hits.
- Freshman Tessa Dodson worked a pinch-hit walk in the fourth as the Explorers put a pair on base but failed to score.
INSIDE THE CIRCLE:
- Junior Sarah Dowalo was brilliant, allowing just six hits over seven full innings and not allowing an earned run while striking out two.
PENN 8, LA SALLE 5
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn jumped out to an early 1-0 lead as Nedley singled, stole second, and scored on a double by Julia Schneider.
- Sophomore Regan Ware bore down and struck out the side in the first, and tallied eight strikeouts over 4.2 innings of work.
- La Salle's bats heated up in the second, with back-to-back singles by Dodson and sophomore Casey Walker putting a pair aboard with nobody out.
- The Quakers wiggled out of trouble thanks to a double play, but could not do the same in the third.
- The Explorers sent 11 batters to the plate in the third, with Ware leading off with a walk.
- Consecutive singles by Maddy Little and Mia Recenello brought home Ware to tie the game, before Zatko launched a grand slam over the left-field wall to put the score at 5-1.
- La Salle would load the bases again after the grand slam but did not add to its lead.
- The score remained the same until the fifth, when a four-run inning by the Quakers knotted the contest.
- Penn continued momentum into the sixth and seventh, taking the lead with a pair of runs in the sixth on back-to-back doubles by Alyssa Pope and Laurel McKelvey
- The Explorers had a runner in scoring position in both the sixth and seventh but could get no closer.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
- Dodson went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with a pair of singles and a double. She also walked in the second inning.
- Little had a pair of hits and stole a base in the sixth inning, her second of the twinbill.
INSIDE THE CIRCLE:
- Ware went 4.2 innings before giving way to Dowalo, who suffered the loss for the Explorers.
UP NEXT:
La Salle treks to UMass for a four-game series beginning April 17.