4/15/23
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – Lackawanna College, perhaps with an assist from the rain, managed to bounce back from a shutout loss in game one to salvage a weekend split at home against Monroe College on Saturday afternoon at the Scranton HS softball field. Monroe won game one in an 8-0 shutout, while the Falcons bounced back to win 9-8 in six innings, before the rainy weather forced an early end to the game.
 
The Falcons (19-12) scored all nine of their game two runs in the third inning, highlighted by two Catarena Sommers (Windham, OH) doubles that drove in five runs, as the Falcons sent eleven players to the plate in the inning. After a 30-minute lightning delay halted play in the fourth, Monroe (18-20) made a furious rally to cut the Falcon lead down to just one in the bottom of the sixth, before more rain made the field conditions so poor that the umpires decided to end the game, giving the Falcons the win and the doubleheader split. Skylar Borthwick (Pittston, PA) was a perfect 3-for-3 with two runs scored and a walk, while Sommers was 2-for-3 with her five RBI and a run scored, and Gwen Balavage (Avoca, PA) went 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored. Allyson Lemerise (Catonsville, MD) picked up her sixth win of the year, pitching three innings of relief. She gave up six runs, three earned, on five hits.
 
A steady drizzle turned into a light rain for the start of game two, and Monroe, fresh off their game one win, hit the ground running. A leadoff bunt single, followed by a stolen base and a passed ball, had the Mustangs in business, and they capitalized with a ground out to first that scored the game's first run at 1-0. The next batter smoked a triple into the outfield, and managed to reach because of an error on the relay throw to put the Mustangs up 2-0. Alivia Graber (North Syracuse, NY) pitched around a two-out single to get the Falcons out of trouble.
 
Things were quiet until the bottom of the third, when the Falcons got back-to-back singles to put two on with nobody out. A fielder's choice got the lead runner, and a pop up, followed by a ground out, stranded the runners and kept it a 2-0 lead for Monroe, but it was a prelude for what was to come in the bottom of the third.
 
Trailing 2-0 in that inning, the Falcons got a leadoff double from Madison Maloney (Scranton, PA), which Borthwick followed with a single to third. She advanced to second when the Mustangs tried to get Maloney advancing to third. Maloney made it, as did Borthwick, and the Falcons had two in scoring position with nobody out. Sommers doubled on a laser to center that scored the pair and tied the game at two. Later, Balavage came up with the bases loaded, tied at 2-2 and still no outs, and lined a single into center field that gave the Falcons the 4-2 lead, forcing a pitching change for the Mustangs. A fielder's choice scored a run but posted the first out. Later, with two outs, runners in scoring position, and two outs, Maloney came back to bat for a second time, and reached when the shortstop committed an error, allowing Balavage to score and make it 6-2. Borthwick walked to load the bases, and Sommers delivered with a three-run double to left that pushed the Falcon lead out to 9-2.
 
In the top of the fourth, the rain continued to fall, and Lemerise came on to relieve Graber. A single, followed by a few wild pitches, put a runner on third, and a ground out to second scored the run and cut into the Falcons lead at 9-3. Then, thunder was heard, and play was stopped, as both teams scattered to their dugouts and, while waiting out the delay, held an impromptu dance off to stay loose.
 
When play resumed, Lemerise got a pop up and a strike out to get out of trouble and move to the bottom of the fourth, where the rain really started to pick up. Lackawanna got a baserunner when Krista Scoblick (Harvey's Lake, PA) was hit by a pitch, and she stole second with one out to, initially, take off the double play. But, it wasn't meant to be, as Emilee Dickinson (Hillsboro, OR) grounded to short. The ball was zoomed across the diamond to first for the second out, and fired on to third where the Mustangs got Scoblick just before her hand hit the bag, completing an unusual 6-3-5 double play to get the Mustangs fired up for the fifth.
 
Monroe responded, getting a one-out single, followed by an error on a sac bunt attempt, and the next batter grounded out to advance the runners into scoring position. A wild pitch scored one run, and a walk, plus a stolen base, put runners in scoring position again with two down. A two-run single was lined into center field, getting the Mustangs within 9-6, before Lemerise got a line out to get the Falcons out of the inning.
 
Lackawanna couldn't do anything with a baserunner, losing one to a fielder's choice and another caught stealing to end the fifth, and Monroe kept that momentum rolling with a leadoff triple. A lineout to short put one away, but a throw to third wasn't caught, and the run scored on the error to make it 9-7. Monroe manufactured another as the rain really started to hammer the field, loading the bases with two outs, and scoring on a wild pitch to cut the Falcons lead down to one at 9-8. Lemerise induced a ground ball to herself for the final out of the inning to get the Falcons into the bottom of the sixth.
 
Borthwick led the bottom half off with a double to center, but that's when the wheels really fell off, weather-wise, as the infield became treacherous for both baserunners and fielders, alike. After a brief conference with both coaching staffs and game administrators, it was determined that the game would be declared ended early because of rain, gifting the Falcons the victory.  
 
Both teams avoided any significant rain drops in game one, but the only thing falling were hits for Monroe, as the Mustangs pounded the Falcons 8-0 in five-innings. Pitcher Sarah Wall from Monroe threw a one-hitter, striking out nine and shutting down the potent Falcons offense. The only Falcons hit came from Tess Ruschman (Easton, PA) in the bottom of the fifth with one out, spoiling Wall's no-hitter attempt. Monroe broke open a tight 2-0 game in the fourth with six runs, cashing in on a pair of sacrifice ground outs, plus an RBI single and a two-run triple. Ruschman had the only Falcons hit, while Madison Maloney (Scranton, PA), Madison McVicar (Blakely, PA), and Sommers all drew walks. Ruschman was tagged with the loss, giving up eight runs on 14 hits in five innings without any strikeouts.
 
Monroe got a run almost immediately in the first, when a leadoff single, followed by a stolen base and a ground out, put a runner on third with just one out. An RBI single to right scored the run, but the Falcons turned a nifty 6-4-3 double play to get out of the inning with just the one run allowed.
 
In the bottom frame, Maloney reached on an error at short when the throw to first was high. A ground out moved the runner to second, but the Falcons were unable to capitalize and came away empty in the bottom frame.
 
Monroe got runners on the corners to start the second, but a double steal was unsuccessful, as a throw from Balavage to second was fired back home from Maloney to Balavage to get the runner from third out at the plate. A pop out, followed by a fly out, stranded the runner at second to end the top of the second. Sophia Mandarano (Dunmore, PA) reached after getting hit by a pitch with one out, and she stole second to give the Falcons another baserunner in scoring position, but Monroe again halted any potential Falcons rally, getting a pop out and a strikeout to end the inning.
 
Monroe got a two-out RBI single in the top of the third to extend their lead to 2-0, and the Falcons got two baserunners on a pair of walks in the bottom frame, but once again came up empty, striking out to strand the runners and leave Monroe's 2-0 lead intact.
 
The Mustangs made the Falcons pay in the fourth, leading the inning off with a single and a pair of steals to immediately put a runner in scoring position. A walk, followed by a stolen base at second, put two runners in position, and an RBI single up the middle plated one run. A ground out to short scored another, and a sac bunt scored another, pushing the Monroe lead out to 5-0 with two outs. A pair of singles put two more runners on, and a third single scored another run. One final two-out hit followed, with a triple to center that scored a pair and made it 8-0, Monroe, after 3.5 innings.
 
The Falcons went quietly in the bottom of the fourth, and made six substitutions in the top of the fifth, as Ruschman pitched around a two-out single and an error that put runners in scoring position, getting a ground out to strand the runners and move into the bottom of the fifth.
 
Still searching for their first hit, the Falcons found it when Ruschman singled to right to climb aboard with one out. A walk later put two on with two outs, but a strikeout fittingly ended things, as Monroe took game one in impressive fashion.
 
Lackawanna College has its biggest doubleheader of the season tomorrow afternoon, when the Falcons host the top team in Region XIX, Delaware Tech CC, for a doubleheader starting at 1:00pm ET on Sunday, April 16^th, at the Scranton HS softball field.