4/30/22
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – The Lackawanna College Softball team relied on its bats to carry the day, as the Falcons twice put themselves up eight runs to end the game early against their rivals from County College of Morris, sweeping the doubleheader on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Scranton HS.
 
The Falcons (31-16) had eleven combined extra base hits, including a pair of homeruns and seven doubles, in the two games, and they managed to score two runs in the final inning, twice, to walk off with the wins. The Falcons are now 5-1 on the weekend, and have won twelve of their last 14 games.
 
Game One Recap: Lackawanna College 8 – 0 County College Of Morris (6 Innings)
MacKayla Quick pitched a three-hit shutout, while Emma McNally ended the game early with a two-run homer to left field, as the Falcons won 8-0 in six innings against County College of Morris in game one of the doubleheader on Saturday afternoon in Scranton.
 
The Falcons (30-16) hit a pair of doubles in the third inning to break a scoreless tie, added two in the fourth and one in the fifth, then ended the game when McNally launched a laser over the right field wall to end the game early on the sportsmanship rule. Quick made that stand up, allowing only five baserunners, total, and striking out six batters over six innings, on her way to her 13^th win on the year. McNally finished the day 2-for-3 with her two RBI and two runs scored, while Skylynn Gilligan was 3-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored. Kira Ryan went 2-for-3 with two triples, an RBI, and a run scored.
 
Morris (6-14) had their chances in the first inning, when a one-out single, followed by another, put runners on the corners. Things came undone for the Titans when a base runner at second was called out for a base running error, and then a fly ball to left field was caught by Madison McVicar on a dive, ending the inning and stranding the runner at third. In the bottom frame, Ryan tripled with one out, but the Titans pitched around the trouble and kept the Falcons off the board.
 
After Quick got a round a pair of walks in the top of the second, Lackawanna had something brewing in the bottom frame, when a Gilligan lead-off double, followed by a walk, and then a two-out single, loaded the bases. Morris managed to get out of danger when they got a strikeout to end the inning, their third of the frame, stranding the bases loaded and keeping the game scoreless.
 
The bottom of the third was where the Falcons finally got their offense up and running. Ryan led the inning off with a walk, then stole second base to put herself in scoring position. After a strikeout, a walk to McNally put two on. Gilligan came up and doubled up the middle on a line drive, scoring both runners and putting the Falcons up 2-0. Catarena Sommers smacked a double to center of her own, scoring Gilligan to push the margin to three runs. Morris managed to get a pair of outs to end the inning before the Falcons could get more.
 
Morris led the fourth inning off with a double, but Quick got three straight outs to keep them off the board, and the Falcons scratched across a few more in the bottom frame. A one-out double from Meghan Fritz got the Falcons a baserunner, and a Ryan triple to center made it 4-0, Falcons. An errant throw sailed over third base, allowing Ryan to score on the error and making it 5-0.
 
Lackawanna pushed another across in the bottom of the fifth, when a one-out single from Jennifer Wolak made it 6-0, Falcons. Morris managed to strand the remaining two runners, getting a strikeout and pop out to end the threat.
 
After another 1-2-3 inning from Quick in the top of the sixth, the Falcons got a one-out walk from McVicar in the bottom frame, bringing McNally to the plate. She cracked a laser to right field, easily clearing the fence and setting off the celebrations in the Falcon dugout. The homer made it 8-0, triggering the sportsmanship rule in the bottom of the sixth with the Falcons up by eight runs, and giving Lackawanna the victory.  
 
Game Two Recap: Lackawanna College 14 – 6 County College of Morris (5 Innings)


After taking a few innings to heat up in game one, the Falcon offense wasted no time in game two, scoring nine runs in the first two innings, and kept the offense going every time County College of Morris answered, eventually enabling Lackawanna to take the 14-6 win in five innings in game two of their doubleheader on Saturday afternoon in Scranton.
 
After falling behind 2-0 in the top of the first, a Madison McVicar three-run homer to right field immediately gave the Falcons (31-16) the lead in the bottom of the first, and, after the Titans tied it up in the top of the second, the Falcons regained the lead, this time for good, in the bottom of the second on a ground out to second. The Titans (6-15) kept things within touching distance up into the fifth inning, when a Stephanie Kibbe RBI single scored the run that pushed the Falcon lead to eight, activating the sportsmanship rule and ending the game early.
 
McVicar led the way for the Falcons, going 2-for-3 with four RBI and three runs scored, while Emma McNally, Skylynn Gilligan, and Catarena Sommers each added two hits, apiece. The Falcons had four extra base hits, and 14 total hits, as they scored runs in every inning to keep the pressure on the visitors from Morris. Meghan Fritz got the win, her ninth win of the year, pitching four innings and giving up six runs, just two earned, on seven hits, while striking out one batter.
 
In the top of the first, a pair of errors put two runners on for the Titans. Later, with runners on second and third and two outs, a single to right field scored two runs to give Morris its first lead of the day at 2-0. A single put another runner on base, but Fritz induced a ground out to end the scoring threat.
 
Lackawanna struck back in the bottom frame, when Fritz led the inning off with a single, followed by Kira Ryan reaching after getting hit by a pitch. With two on and nobody out, McVicar cranked her fourth homerun of the year over the right field fence, immediately putting the Falcons in front at 3-2. A two-base error put McNally on second, and Gilligan managed to bring her home on a hard hit single to left field, putting the Falcons in front 4-2, still with nobody out. A Sommers single kept the inning rolling, but a fielder's choice, followed by a pop out and a ground out, ended the threat before the Falcons could do more damage.  
 
In the top of the second, Morris managed to get another pair of runs. Two walks put a pair of runners on, and a hard grounder up the middle got all the way to the track, allowing two runs to score and tie the game, while also allowing the batter to reach third. Fritz managed to get out of trouble with a ground out back to herself.  
 
With the score knotted at four in the bottom of the second, the Falcons came back to put more runs across. After Fritz led the inning off with a single, an error, followed by a walk, loaded the bases with nobody out. McNally grounded to first, scoring Fritz to put the Falcons up 5-4. A passed ball put another run across, and, after a walk, a Sommers RBI single to left made it 7-4, Falcons. A fielder's choice put two away, but back-to-back RBI singles from Tess Ruschman and Savannah Glover pushed the Falcon lead to 9-4. The inning ended when Ruschman was caught straying from second base, and got pinned down in a rundown.
 
Morris got a run back in the top of the third, when a lead-off triple led to an RBI ground out to cut it to 9-5. A pair of singles put two baserunners on, but Fritz got a fly out, followed by a ground out, to get the Falcons out of trouble. In the bottom frame, a one-out hit from Ryan was followed up by an RBI double to center from McVicar. McVicar came home on the next at-bat when McNally doubled to center, pushing the Falcon lead to 11-5 in the bottom of the third.
 
Another triple from the Titans led to a run scoring on an RBI single in the top of the fourth, cutting the Falcon lead to 11-6. Fritz managed to pitch around it, getting a fielder's choice, followed by a pop out to second, to get out of trouble. The Falcons added another run in the bottom frame, when a pair of walks, followed by an error, allowed a baserunner to score, making it 12-6, Lackawanna College.
 
In the top of the fifth, Stephanie Kibbe came on to pitch. Kibbe allowed one baserunner on a hit by pitch, but otherwise pitched around that to retire the side with no trouble, setting up the bottom of the fifth inning. A one-out single from McNally, followed by a steal, put a runner in scoring position. A Gilligan double to center field, her third of the doubleheader, scored McNally, making it 13-6. In stepped Kibbe, who managed to end things early with an RBI single to center, scoring Gilligan to push the final score to 14-6, hitting the eight-run sportsmanship rule and ending the contest.
 
Lackawanna College now turns its attention to its final games of the regular season, when the top team in the region comes to town. The Falcons will host the Delaware Tech CC Terry Hawks on Sunday, May 1^st, in a doubleheader that will not count towards the Region XIX standings. The first game of the doubleheader will start at 1:00pm ET at Scranton HS, and the second will follow around 3:00pm ET. Both games will have a video livestream on the Lackawanna College Athletics YouTube Channel at www.lackawannafalcons.com/YouTube.