4/9/24

SCRANTON, Pa. -- Mazzie Musgrave had a combined five RBI, and Allyson Lemerise struck out 12 in a three-hit shutout to help Lackawanna College softball sweep past Sussex County CC in a Region XIX DII doubleheader on Tuesday afternoon at Scranton HS softball field. The Falcons won game one 8-0 in six innings, before taking game two by a 12-3 margin in five innings.
 
The Falcons (23-10, 2-2) got a stellar pitching performance from Lemerise (Sophomore; Catonsville, MD), who struck out a career-high 12 batters in six innings, giving up only three hits and no walks to pick up her sixth win of the season. The Falcons didn't give Lemerise much to work with through the early half of the game, breaking through with three-straight one-out singles, followed by a sac fly, to take a 2-0 lead in the fourth. In the top of the fifth, Lemerise was in trouble, hitting back-to-back batters to start the inning, and then giving up a single to left that looked like it was going to load the bases. But, the Skylanders (2-14, 1-5) got aggressive on the hit, sending the runner from third to try to score. Left fielder Aria Reyes (Sophomore; Allentown, PA) fired the ball quickly to Madison Maloney (Sophomore; Scranton, PA), who, in turn, wheeled around and fired home to catcher Paige Pieper (First Year; Middleton, ID), who tagged the runner out at home and kept Sussex off the board. Lemerise then bounced back and got two big strikeouts to strand the runners, and send Lackawanna into the bottom frame.
 
That's where the Falcons truly took flight, as Morgan McVicar (First Year; Blakely, PA) led the inning off with stand-up triple to left-center. Lemerise quickly cashed her in on a single to make it 3-0, Falcons. An error let the Falcons get another base-runner, and Lackawanna had runners at second-and-third when Reyes singled to the right side to score a run and make it 4-0. Musgrave (First Year; Old Forge, PA) tripled to left to score a pair, and Emmalee Mowery (First Year; Mechanicsburg, PA) singled her home to make it 7-0, Lackawanna, heading into the sixth.
 
After the Falcons shut down the Skylanders in the top of the sixth, they quickly ended things early in the bottom frame. McVicar doubled to get on-base, Lemerise singled, then Kaislyn Currie (First Year; Gibbons, AB) singled to left field to score McVicar and walk the game off on the run-rule.
 
McVicar was 3-for-3 with two runs scored and a walk, while the bottom of the lineup really shown for the Falcons. Reyes, the seven-hole hitter, was 2-for-2 with two runs scored and a run driven in. Musgrave, the eighth hitter, was 2-for-2 with two runs scored and her two RBI, while the ninth hitter Mowery was 2-for-3 with two RBI.  
 
The Falcon offense kept it hot in game two, scoring early and often to build a lead the Skylanders wouldn't be able to challenge. Musgrave tripled in the bottom of the first to clear the bases loaded and immediately give Lackawanna a 3-0 lead. The Falcons added more in the second, after an unfortunate two-out error by the Skylanders. With a runner on and two-outs, McVicar lifted a ball to center that hit the center fielder's glove and was dropped, allowing her to reach and Mowery to score and make it 4-0. The inning was extended from there, and two more runs came home later in the inning thanks to a two-run single from Alexis Semanek (Sophomore; Wilkes-Barre, PA). Semanek would get all the way to third thanks to an error on the catcher, then another error, this time on the infield, let Musgrave reach and scored Semanek. Another error in the outfield had runners at first and third, before a fly out to center finally ended the nightmarish inning for Sussex.
 
Up 7-0, Lackawanna would add two more in the third, then three more in the bottom of the fourth inning to build a 12-0 advantage. Sussex finally got on track with back-to-back walks, followed by a single, to leadoff the top of the fifth. A sac fly, followed by a sac bunt, scored a pair of runs, and a single to left scored another, but the Falcons ended it early when Sussex popped out to left.
 
Musgrave was 1-for-2 with three RBI, Semanek was 1-for-2 with two runs scored and two RBI, and both Emilee Dickinson (Sophomore; Hillsboro, OR) and Skylar Borthwick (Sophomore; Pittston, PA) had two RBI and a run scored, apiece. Brianna Dinice (First Year; Terryville, CT) picked up the win, her sixth of the season, allowing no runs on two hits in three innings, while striking out a pair.
 
The Falcons are back to work on Thursday, April 11^th, when they host the Spartans of Northampton CC for a Region XIX cross-divisional match-up. First pitch of the doubleheader is at 3:00pm ET at Scranton HS softball field.