Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 3/4/25
 
NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, SC – Another rough game one preceded another thrilling game two, as Lackawanna College softball split another doubleheader Tuesday afternoon at the Fastpitch Dreams Spring Classic in South Carolina. The Falcons fell 11-2 to Lincoln Trail College in five innings of game one, then came back to beat Harford CC, 3-2, in game two.
 
The Falcons (3-3) had just five combined hits across both games, as the offense struggled to get on track. Against Lincoln Trail in game one, the offense barely even got in the batter's box.
 
Lincoln Trail's Elise Lampert had a perfect game entering the fifth inning, while the Statesmen (3-4) dominated at the plate, posting nine hits and taking advantage of four Lackawanna College errors to build a double-digit lead. The Falcons scored a pair of runs in the fifth, using a leadoff walk to break up the perfect game and a single from Kaislyn Currie (Gibbons, AB) to erase the no-no. Lindsey Tasker (Clarks Summit, PA) hit a two-run double to get the Falcons on the board, but Lincoln Trail got a ground out to second to end the game early via run rule.
 
The Statesmen had the Falcons reeling almost from the start, putting three on thanks to three consecutive one-out walks in the bottom of the first inning. Starter Mia Scalese (Moscow, PA) got a strike out and then a foul out to strand the bases loaded. She'd face a similar situation in the next inning, when LT put two on with one out. A fielder's choice forced the second out at third, but a single to center ended up scoring the game's first run to put the Statesmen up 1-0. A walk loaded the bases, but Scalese stranded the bases loaded for the second straight inning with a grounder to force the out at home.
 
The Falcons were retired in order again in the top of the third, and Trail struck it big in the bottom frame. With a runner on second and two outs, a routine grounder to third was scooped up and tossed to first, but the Falcons didn't step on the bag at first, and then mistakenly rolled the ball to the pitcher's circle, thinking the inning had ended. To their horror, the field umpire signaled safe, and the Falcons scrambled to grab the ball, but a hard-charging Trail baserunner had already rounded third and was standing on home plate to score the run before Lackawanna could react. Now leading 2-0 and with renewed life in the inning, back-to-back singles to left scored two more runs for the Statesmen, and they got a third straight RBI hit to make it 5-0, but got thrown out on the basepaths trying to stretch a single to a double to end the inning.
 
Lackawanna was silenced again in the fourth, and Trail compounded the issue for the Falcons further in the bottom frame. A single and an error put runners on first and second with nobody out. A sac bunt put those runners in scoring position, and a single to right scored a run to make it 6-0, Statesmen. The floodgates really opened up on back-to-back errors on the infield for the Falcons, resulting in three runs scoring and pushing the deficit to 9-0. A hit batter, followed by a walk, loaded the bases and forced a pitching change for Lackawanna College. Abigail Yenalevitch (Kingston, PA) came on to try to limit the damage, still needing two outs. She struck out a batter to get the second out, but a bases loaded walk, then a wild pitch, plated two more runs before the inning finally ended. That left Lackawanna needing to score at least four runs to keep the game going, and the Falcons could only muster two.
 
Currie and Tasker had the only hits, Gracie Sokol (Belle Vernon, PA) had the only walk, and Currie and Paige Pieper (Middleton, ID) scored the two runs. Scalese fell to 0-2 on the year, lasting 3.1 innings and giving up eleven runs, only two earned, on nine hits, while walking six and striking out a pair.
 
The offense still wasn't clicking in game two, but the Falcons came back from 2-0 down by manufacturing some runs and playing some stellar defense to stun the Fighting Owls from Harford.
 
Lackawanna got a baserunner in the first inning via a one-out walk to start the game, but got thrown out stealing and couldn't get anything started in the first. Starter Brianna Dinice (Terryville, CT) was roughed up early, giving up two runs on four hits in the bottom frame. A one-out double and a one-out single put runners on the corners, and a double steal scored the first run of the game. Later, with the bases loaded and two outs, a single to center scored another run to put Harford up 2-0.
 
Despite the Falcons' woes at the plate, Dinice started to settle in, retiring nine straight at one point. Her effectiveness helped give the Falcons some life in the top of the fourth. Jillian Heimberger (Unionville, PA) and Scalese had back-to-back singles to open the inning. Pieper's fielder's choice put runners on the corners with one out. Currie blooped one to the right side of the infield and the second base player made a diving stab for the catch, but the effort to grab and control the ball gave Heimberger just enough time to book it towards home plate. The throw was up the line, and the Falcons got on the board at 2-1 going into the bottom frame.
 
A two-out single for Harford in the fourth broke Dinice's rhythm, but she induced a ground out to get out of any trouble. The Owls (1-2), who picked up nine hits on the afternoon, had runners on first and second with just one out, when disaster almost struck Lackawanna. A ground ball to third resulted in a force out, but the throw to first was off target, letting the runner at second scamper to third, and allowing the batter to reach on the error. So now, the Owls had runners on the corners with two down. Dinice got some help to end the inning, though, when center fielder Emmalee Mowery (Mechanicsburg, PA) caught a liner to close out the fifth.
 
That must have fired up the Falcons for the top of the sixth, as Mowery reached on an error at short, and then Heimberger reached on an error by the pitcher. When the dust settled, Lackawanna had runners on second and third with nobody out. Scalese was hit by a pitch to load the bases, setting the stage for Pieper to deliver a big blow, singling to right and scoring a pair of runs to put the Falcons up, 3-2. A sac bunt put runners in scoring position, again, but Harford got two straight outs to get out of any further issues.
 
All was quiet until Harford's last chance in the seventh. Back-to-back singles led the inning off for the Fighting Owls. A soft fly out to short was the first out of the inning. The second came on another grounder to third that resulted in an unassisted force out. Only, this time, Heimberger held on to the ball and didn't throw across the diamond to try to get the double play and risk an error. She was rewarded for her patience on the very next pitch, when a liner to the left side came right to her, and she stabbed at it with her glove and came down with the final out, setting off a celebration on the infield from the Lackawanna defense.
 
Dinice pitched all seven innings to pick up her second win of the year, giving up two runs on nine hits and striking out one, but not walking any. Heimberger scored a pair of runs, Pieper had the two RBI, and Mowery had the other run for the Falcons.
 
Lackawanna College has another doubleheader scheduled in South Carolina for Wednesday, March 5^th, as the Falcons will take on Danville Area CC and Wilson College JV. The game against Danville is set for an 11:00am ET start, while the Wilson College JV contest will start at 3:00pm ET.