4/13/23
 
RANDOLPH, NJ – Lackawanna College softball was undone by clutch two-out hitting twice on Thursday afternoon, dropping a doubleheader in region play on the road at County College of Morris in Randolph, NJ. The Falcons fell in game one, 4-3, then lost 9-5 in game two.
 
The Falcons (17-10, 3-3) held a 3-1 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth in game one, but a two-out, two-run homer tied the game for the Titans (15-11, 4-2), who got another two-out hit in the sixth, an RBI double, that gave them the lead. Lackawanna College had a two-out baserunner, and a walk put the winning run on the bases, but a ground out snuffed out any hope of a rally in the top frame. The Falcons had broken open a 1-1 game in the top of the fourth thanks to a two-run double from Tess Ruschman (Easton, PA), giving Lackawanna that two-run advantage with just one out, but a line drive out to right resulted in a double play when the Falcons were caught straying off the bases, ending the inning early. The Falcons were held to five hits on the day. Ruschman was 1-for-3 with two RBI, and Gwen Balavage scored a run and drew two walks. Aria Reyes (Allentown, PA) was tagged with the loss, going three innings of relief and giving up three runs on four hits, while striking out four.
 
The Falcons had something cooking right away in the top of the first of game one, when Gabby Wettig (Manheim, PA) led the game off with a single, and a walk, followed by a Catarena Sommers (Windham, OH) single loaded the bases with nobody out. A strikeout put one away, but Balavage drew the third walk of the inning to force home the first run. But the Falcons came up empty when a line drive to left was snagged and thrown quickly to third to pick off the Falcons for an inning-ending double play.
 
With Allyson Lemerise (Catonsville, MD) in the circle, the bottom of the first started with a hit batter, but a line drive to Ruschman at second was caught and flipped quickly to first to double-off the runner. Lemerise got a ground out to end the first inning.
 
The Falcons still led 1-0 in the bottom of the second, when Morris led the inning off with a double, but Lemerise stranded the runner with a ground out, a strikeout, and a fly out to get the Falcons out of trouble. She wouldn't be able to keep Morris off the board, though, as the Titans struck for the tying run in the third. Back-to-back two-out walks put runners on, and a single to center tied the game. Lemerise recovered to get a ground out and strand the two runners.
 
The top of the fourth started with another Balavage walk, followed by an error at short, and a walk, which once again loaded the bases with nobody out. A strikeout put one down, but Ruschman delivered with a two-run double to right that gave the Falcons the 3-1 advantage. The top of the order came up, but the Flacons were undone by another double play, when a fly out to right was quickly thrown back in and the runner at third was picked off, ending another Falcon scoring rally.
 
Two walks started the bottom frame, and Lemerise was taken out for Reyes. Reyes got an out on a fielder's choice that put runners on the corners, then got two massive strikeouts to strand the runners and get the Falcons out of the inning.
 
In the top of the fifth, a leadoff double from Skylar Borthwick (Pittston, PA) was wasted as the Falcons were retired in order from that point. In the bottom of the fifth, Morris got back to even. With two outs and a runner on second, a fly ball was launched to left field, and it just cleared the fence to tie the game at 3-3 after five innings.
 
The bottom of the sixth came, and more two-out magic struck for the Titans. A one-out single got them a baserunner, and a two-out double brought that runner home, giving Morris its first lead of the game at 4-3. Reyes got a strikeout to end the inning, but the Falcons were in desperation mode.
 
The top of the seventh saw the Falcons go down to their final out quickly, but an error on the infield put Sommers on. A walk put the go-ahead run at first, but a ground out on the infield ended the Falcons hopes of rallying.
 
In game two, the third and fourth innings provided the excitement. Lackawanna College got on the board in the top of the third on a two-run homer from Krista Scoblick (Harvey's Lake, PA), and, after Morris scored four in the bottom half, the Falcons reclaimed the lead at 5-4 after an RBI single from Skylar Borthwick (Pittston, PA) and a two-run homerun from Sophia Mandarano (Dunmore, PA). But in the bottom frame, an RBI groundout with runners on second and third tied the game, which was followed by back-to-back two-out singles that scored a pair of runs to give Morris a 7-5 advantage. With the Falcons desperate to climb back into the game in the sixth, Morris added two more in the bottom frame, taking advantage of a two-out walk, then an error, a wild pitch, and finally another error scored two more runs and essentially put things out of reach for Lackawanna. Scoblick was 1-for-4 with the two RBI, and Mandarano was 1-for-2 with her two-run homerun. Alivia Graber (North Syracuse, NY) picked up the loss, giving up seven runs, five earned, in four innings of action.
 
It took until the top of the third for any action to really happen in game two. Kira Ryan (Alburtis, PA) singled to left with one-out, and Scoblick brought her home with a two-run homer to left, putting the Falcons up 2-0 in the top of the third.
 
Morris struck back in the bottom frame. A leadoff single put a runner on, and a one-out error on the infield allowed that run to come home, making it 2-1, Falcons. A single put two runners on, and a one-run double scored the tying run. With runners at second and third, an RBI single scored one run, still with one out, and a ground out to first brought home the fourth run of the inning, giving Morris a 4-2 lead. Graber recovered to get a strikeout to get the Falcons out of the inning.
 
Lackawanna bounced back in the top of the fourth, starting with a leadoff double from Madison McVicar (Blakely, PA). Borthwick brought her home on an RBI single to cut the deficit to 4-3. That's when Mandarano hit a homer to left field that put the Falcons back out in front at 5-4, still with nobody out. Later, Ruschman drew a one-out walk, and stole second, and made it to third on a passed ball with two outs. But, the Falcons couldn't get another run, as a strikeout ended the inning.
 
In the bottom of the fourth, Morris got back-to-back one-out singles to get a pair of baserunners. With runners on second and third and one out, A ground out to second scored the tying run. Then, with two outs, an RBI single to center gave Morris a 6-5 lead. Then, another single, coupled with an error in right field, made it 7-5, Titans, after four innings.
 
After the Falcons went down 1-2-3 in the top of the fifth, Ruschman came on to pitch in the bottom half for Graber, and got around a two-out error to keep Morris off the board, but the Falcons went down in order again in the top of the sixth.
 
In the bottom of the sixth, Ruschman got a pair of ground outs to put two away, but a walk, followed by an error put two on and forced the Falcons to make a pitching change, with Reyes replacing Ruschman. A wild pitch put the runners in scoring position. Reyes got a ground ball, but another crucial error let two more runs score and pushed the Morris advantage to 9-5 heading into the seventh.
 
The Falcons had some life in the top of the seventh, when a dropped third strike put a two-out runner aboard, but a fly out to left ended a day the Falcons would rather forget and gave the Titans a crucial doubleheader sweep over Lackawanna College.
 
The Falcons don't have any time to recover, with a doubleheader scheduled for 3:00pm at home on Friday, April 14^th, at Scranton HS, against Chesapeake College.