(Game 1) / (Game 2)
Junior Kim Dougherty (Belle Mead, NJ) used her pitching and hitting to lead Widener into the Commonwealth Conference Tournament with a doubleheader split of Lebanon Valley.
The Pride (22-16, 6-6 CC) notched a 1-0 victory in the opener before losing the finale by the same score. Widener clinched the No. 3 seed for the double-elimination tournament and opens next Friday against second-seeded Lebanon Valley (24-12, 9-3), beginning at 1:00 pm in Grantham, PA.
Widener in game one took the lead in the fifth inning, beginning with senior Rachel O’Leary (Coatesville, PA) getting a leadoff single for her team’s first base runner. Freshman pinch-runner Erika Pacholski (Haddonfield, NJ) took second on a sacrifice from senior Stephanie Caulford (Vineland, NJ) and reached third on a groundout by senior Krista Cesarine (Ridley Park, PA).
Dougherty followed with a line drive RBI to right-center field to help her cause.
The Pride made it stand in the top of the sixth with a great defensive play. With Kerri Datres at first, Katie DeJulio hit a double down the right-field line. Junior Jamie Schmucker (Holmes, PA) relayed the ball to sophomore second baseman Meg Phillips (Aston, PA), who threw it to senior catcher Katie Mitchell (Drexel Hill, PA) to tag Datres out.
DeJulio reached third on the play, but stayed there as Dougherty got Kristen Uhas on a groundout.
Dougherty (10-7), who retired the side in order in the seventh, again got the job done in the circle as Widener clinched its second straight conference tournament berth. She allowed three hits and one walk with four strikeouts for her fourth straight win.
Val Malizzia (11-4) was perfect through four innings, but yielded one run and two hits over six innings with eight strikeouts for the loss. DeJulio ended with two hits.
The Dutchmen in game two scored in the sixth inning as Allie Davies lined an RBI single to left-center field, scoring Datres.
Parker Ford, PA sophomore Kelsey Shultz (10-6) was charged with one run and six hits over seven innings for the Pride. O’Leary ended with two hits.
Laura Snyder (9-4) permitted no runs and four hits over seven innings with six strikeouts for LVC.