3/19/25
 
Lackawanna College Athletics Summary 3-19-25
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – Visiting Hudson Valley shut down Lackawanna College softball in game one and out muscled the Falcons in game two for a doubleheader sweep on Wednesday afternoon in non-region action at Scranton HS softball field. HVCC won game one, 9-0, in six innings, then took game two by a 13-6 margin.
 
The Falcons (6-10) struggled to get their offense going with any consistency, managing only one hit in game one and hitting several hard-hit balls for outs in game two. Meanwhile, the Vikings (2-0) looked sharp in their first two games of the season, getting a strong game one outing from Moira Collins and combining for 22 runs across both games.
 
Collins held the Falcons to one hit and struck out ten in game one, while Lackawanna was hurt by nine walks and seven wild pitches from its staff. Starter Brianna Dinice (Terryville, CT) took the loss, giving up six runs on four hits in 5.2 innings of action. She struck out seven batters, but she also walked seven and threw six wild pitches. Her fellow Nutmeg State native, Kizbelth Ortiz (New Britain, CT), had the only hit of the game for the Falcons.
 
The Vikings stranded a pair in the top of the first, and then Lackawanna stranded a two-out walk in the bottom half. It wouldn't be until the third inning that the visitors found their breakthrough in game one.
 
A one-out single, followed by a walk, put two on for the Vikings. An error at short loaded the bases, but the Falcons got the next out on a foul out down the third base line. With two down, a single to left field scored a pair that gave HVCC the lead. Dinice bounced back to get a pop up to second to end the inning.
 
Ortiz led the bottom of the third off with a single to right, then stole second with one out. Emmalee Mowery (Mechanicsburg, PA) drew a walk to put two on with just the one out, but an infield fly and a strikeout ended the third with two runners on.
 
Hudson Valley struck again in the fifth inning, as Dinice started to come undone. A leadoff walk, followed by a wild pitch, put a runner in scoring position. Dinice got swinging strikeout for the first out, but hit the next batter to put two on. A single to right scored the runner on second and made it 3-0, Vikings. A walk loaded the bases, then two straight wild pitches scored two runs to make it 5-0. Another wild pitch, this time with two outs, scored the sixth run of the game, and the Vikings had runners at first and second when Dinice got another pop out to mercifully end a half inning where the Vikings scored four runs on just one hit.
 
Needing to respond in the bottom of the fifth, Ortiz drew a one-out walk and stole second with two down, but a hard liner by Mowery was snagged by Collins in the circle to end the inning early.
 
The Falcons switched to Mia Scalese (Moscow, PA) to start the sixth, but Mia tweaked a leg injury and had to come out after giving up two runs on a double and getting just the one out. Dinice came back out, walked a batter to put two on, then a single loaded the bases, still with one out. One more wild pitch brought home the ninth run of the game, and Dinice bounced back with a strike out and a ground out to end the top of the sixth inning.
 
Lindsey Tasker (Clarks Summit, PA) drew a leadoff walk and stole second to get a runner in scoring position to start the bottom frame, but Lackawanna College was retired in order, from there, and the game ended early via run rule at 9-0.
 
The Falcons had some life at the plate in game two, but Hudson Valley blistered starter Abigail Yenalevitch (Kingston, PA) for eight runs, seven earned, on eight hits in 3.1 innings, alone, building a big lead and never truly getting threatened. Scalese was a perfect 4-for-4 with two runs scored for Lackawanna, while Jillian Heimberger (Unionville, PA) was 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Laniah Tasker (Chambersburg, PA) was 2-for-4 with an RBI and one run scored.
 
Hudson Valley struck it big in the first inning of game two, scoring four runs on back-to-back two-run doubles to make it 4-0 before the Falcons could even record an out. A caught stealing from Laniah Tasker to short stop Mekenzie Dineen (Wilmington, DE) was the first out of the game, and Yenalevitch settled in with a pair of strikeouts to end the first.
 
The Falcons responded nicely in the bottom frame, getting a one-out single from Heimberger to get a base runner, then scoring Heimberger on an error at third after Scalese reached on a single to left field. Another error, this time at short, let Laniah Tasker on and brought Scalese home to cut the deficit in half at 4-2. The Falcons had runners at first and second with two down, but a pop out on the infield ended the potential rally.
 
Hudson Valley added a one-run double with two outs in the second inning to push their lead out to 5-2, then added two more runs in the third inning on another two-out double, taking a 7-2 lead over the Falcons into the bottom of the third.
 
Three straight singles scored one run for the Falcons to open the bottom frame, and a walk loaded the bases, still with nobody out. Lackawanna was unlucky, however, when Gracie Sokol (Belle Vernon, PA) drilled a pitch directly to the second base player for a line out, who then flipped it to first to double off the Falcons for a gut-punch of a double play. Another line out stranded the remaining two runners and kept the Falcons from blowing the third inning open and climbing back into the contest.
 
HVCC added a run on a one-out double to left, making it 8-3 and chasing Yenalevitch from the contest. Lackawanna turned to Heimberger, who quickly got two outs in two pitches to get the Falcons out of the top of the fourth.
 
Lackawanna stranded runners in each of the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. The fourth ended on a hard ground ball to short that was turned into a 6-3 double play. The fifth ended with a runner on second on a hard hit ground out to first. The sixth inning ended on a hard liner to first, with a runner on base.
 
In the seventh inning, the Vikings blew the game wide open. A one-out triple scored a run to make it 9-3, then a single to left put HVCC over double-digits. With two outs, a single to center scored a run, then a two-run single to right field scored two more, pushing the Vikings' advantage out to 13-3 heading into the last half inning.
 
Heimberger, Scalese, and Laniah Tasker all singled to start the inning, the second time that trio all reached in a row on the day. A fielder's choice forced an out at home, but then a bases-loaded HBP and then a bases-loaded walk forced two runs in. Lindsey Tasker grounded out to second to score another run and make it 13-6, but a soft pop up to left field left two on and ended the contest.
 
Both teams have a short turnaround, as they will play another doubleheader on Thursday, March 20^th, starting at 12:00pm ET at Scranton HS softball field. The doubleheader was moved up because of the threats of storms later in the afternoon.