March 27, 2007

Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score

LANCASTER, Pa. - Finally playing at home, Franklin & Marshall split a Tuesday softball double-header with Elizabethtown. The Diplomats took the first game 8-1, and dropped the second 3-0. Franklin & Marshall moved to 4-12 on the season, while Elizabethtown went to 7-5.

F&M blew open a 2-0 game with six combined unearned runs over the fourth and fifth innings. All they needed were the second and third inning solo shots over the leftfield fence off of the bats of Meredith Morgan (Phoenixville, PA / Owen J. Roberts) and Leah Pearlman-Storch (Bala-Cynwyd, PA / Friends Central) to secure the win. F&M, which had not picked up a round trip in its first 14 games, saw two in as many innings, putting the Jays' starter Alex Lee in a 2-0 hole.

Lee surrendered eight runs on an equal number of hits, but only two runs counted against her. A leadoff error and a questionable fielding choice left Morgan with a pair of runners on board. She brought home the one in scoring position, and later crossed the plate along with Kathleen Clinchy on a Samantha Basuk double down the leftfield line, which blew open the otherwise tight game.

Meanwhile, Diplomats' starter, Bonnie Crouthamel (Chatham, NJ / Chatham) twirled a gem allowing one unearned run on six hits. She returned seven batters to the bench while issuing four walks. Morgan finished the game 2-for-2 with two runs scored and two driven in. Pearlman Storch also had a pair of runs batted in the opener.

Lee exacted her revenge in the second game, limiting the Diplomats to four hits in taking the 3-0 decision. Both teams squandered scoring opportunities stranding a combined 22 runners.

Sarah Church's sacrifice RBI in the top of the third plated Paige Tanner who reached on a one-out double to right-centerfield for the game-winning run. It was all the Jays got off of F&M starter, Ali Tyler (Ridgewood, NJ / Ridgewood), who worked the first five allowing nine hits in taking the loss. She dropped to 1-6 on the year. Tyler yielded the circle to Morgan, who allowed a pair in the sixth to come in on a Tanner double. Tanner went 3-for-4, and factored in each of the Elizabethtown runs.

Jessica Feldman (Jackson, NJ / Jackson Memorial) went 2-for-4 in each of the games for F&M.

Franklin & Marshall returns to action on Saturday at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland.