4/16/22
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – The Lackawanna College Softball team only got one of its scheduled two games in on Saturday, but the Falcons made it worthwhile for those in attendance. Amidst an ever increasing amount of rain, Catarena Sommers smashed a walk-off double in the bottom of the eighth to give the Falcons the win, 7-6, over the Mercer County CC Vikings on Saturday afternoon at Scranton HS.
 
Lackawanna College (18-14, 1-2) scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth, after conceding two in the top side, to secure their first win in Region XIX play on the year. Sommers was 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs, including the game winner in extras, with all three of her hits being doubles. Emma McNally and Skylynn Gilligan each had two RBIs, and Madison McVicar was 2-for-4 with two runs scored. MacKayla Quick picked up her eighth win of the year, pitching all eight innings for the Falcons, allowing six runs on eleven hits, while striking out six batters.  
 
Quick retired the first six batters she faced, and the Falcons gave her a run in the bottom of the second inning to open the scoring. McNally, extending her hitting streak to 21 games, tripled to left, and came home to score on an RBI ground out by Gilligan. A pair of fly outs followed, ending the second inning.
 
Mercer County (18-5, 0-1) finally got their first hit on a lead-off single to start the third, but Quick got a strikeout and a pair of fly outs to strand the runner.
 
Mercer got another chance in the top of the fourth, and this time the Vikings delivered. With one out, Hailey Nardone hit a solo shot to center field, getting the Vikings on the board and tying things at 1-apiece. An error let a baserunner on, and a double made it second and third with still just the one out. Amanda Gonzalez would single to center, driving in the second run to give Mercer the 2-1 advantage. Quick was able to get a pop out and a ground out to strand the pair of runners and get the Falcons to the bottom of the fourth. McVicar hit a one-out double to get aboard, and, Sommers would deliver a few batters later, hitting a two-out double to left field, bringing home McVicar to make it 2-all.
 
Into the top of the fifth, the Vikings got some two-out magic of their own going, when Julia Hannawacker lined a triple to right field, then came home to score on a wild pitch, helping Mercer reclaim the lead at 3-2. The Falcons almost had an answer in the bottom of the fifth, when Meghan Fritz doubled, and then stole third with two outs, but a strikeout ended the threat.
 
Mercer got another run in the top of the sixth, when a lead-off double was followed by a Gonzalez RBI single, making it 4-2, Vikings. Later in the inning, the Vikings had a runner on third with two outs, but Quick got a big third out on a liner to center to strand the runner and get the Falcons into the bottom of the sixth, trailing 4-2.
 
McVicar led Lackawanna off with a double, and then stole third, immediately putting pressure on the Viking defense. McNally grounded to short for the first out, but McVicar scored to cut the deficit to 4-3. A strikeout put two away, but Sommers slapped a grounder through the infield into left field, then hustled around the bases to make it a double. Quick stepped in, and helped her pitching effort out, singling to left field, and bringing home a hard-running Sommers to tie things up at 4-all.
 
Mercer looked like they might break the tie in the top of the seventh, when back-to-back one-out singles put two on. With runners on second and third and one out, Quick knuckled down and got two huge strikeouts to end the top frame and strand the runners. Unfortunately, the Falcons came up empty in the bottom of the seventh, sending things to extras.
 
In the top of the eighth, with a runner on second to start the inning, Quick got back-to-back ground outs to put two away. A single kept the inning alive, and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases. Mia Land stepped in, 0-for-4 on the day, and delivered with a looping liner that was bobbled on the infield, rolling into the short outfield grass, and allowing two runners to score on the error. Mercer took a 6-4 lead into the bottom of the eighth.
 
With Kira Ryan standing at second to start the inning, a ground out put one away, but McNally reached on an error on the infield, which allowed Ryan to score, cutting the deficit to 6-5. McNally stole second, and Gilligan delivered with a big two-out double to left field, bringing McNally home and tying the game at 6-all. Gilligan advanced to third on a wild pitch, putting the winning run just 60 feet away, and setting the stage for Sommers to deliver the killing blow. She'd line a pitch into deep center field, putting it just out of reach of the fielders and allowing Gilligan to come home.
 
With the win, Lackawanna College narrowly avoids what was almost an 0-3 start in region play, securing their first Region XIX win of the year, instead.
 
The Falcons and Vikings were due to play another game, which did get started, but was stopped in the bottom of the first, with the Falcons leading 3-0, when the rain became too much, and made the field unplayable. No make-up date to continue and finish the second game of the doubleheader has been decided upon at this time. Check lackawannafalcons.com for all scheduling updates.
 
The Falcons are next scheduled to get back to work on Thursday, April 21^st, when they travel to SUNY Orange to take on the Colts in doubleheader action. The first game is set for a 3:00pm ET start, and the second will follow at 5:00pm ET.