3/19/26
 
LITTLE RIVER, SC – A strong game one performance helped assuage the frustration in game two, as Lackawanna College softball split a pair of contests at the Fastpitch Dreams Classic on Thursday afternoon in South Carolina, knocking off Morton College by a 9-0 score in five innings, before falling 2-0 to State Fair CC in game two.
 
The Falcons (12-5) got a strong game one start from Mia Scalese (Moscow, PA), who struck out seven batters and allowed just two hits in five innings of action. That solid pitching enabled the Falcons to really shine at the plate.
 
Riley Knott (Clarks Summit, PA) got the Falcons going in the bottom of the first, doubling to center field to score Ayahna Fleisher (Duncannon, PA) and give the Falcons the early advantage after one.
 
The Panthers (0-9) got a runner to second base in the top of the second, but Scalese managed to get a strikeout to strand the runner, then got another strikeout in the top of the third inning to strand another runner at second.
 
In the bottom of the third, the Falcons began to add to their advantage. Fleisher drew a walk and advanced to second on a passed ball. Kyleah Edwards (Taylor, PA) delivered a single to deep short, and an error on the throw to first allowed Fleisher to score and put Edwards at second base. Laniah Tasker (Chambersburg, PA) pushed a single to center, and an error in the outfield let her get to second and scored Edwards to make it 3-0. Knott then stepped in and cranked a double to left field, scoring Tasker to make it 4-0. Another error, this one on the left fielder, put Knott on third, and she'd score on an RBI groundout to make it 5-0, Falcons, heading into the fourth inning.
 
Mekenzie Revere (Ansonia, CT) hit a pinch hit double with an out on the board in the bottom of the fourth to reach base, and then got to third with two outs on a wild pitch, but a pop out in foul territory stranded her at third. Scalese retired the side in order in the fifth, allowing the Falcons a chance to win the game in the bottom frame.
 
Arianna Gaylord (Exeter, PA) led the inning off with a single, and she'd score on a triple from Haleigh Mazol Stroudsburg, PA) to make it 6-0. A pinch-hit RBI single from Mackenzie Adolfson (Throop, PA) pushed it to 7-0, Falcons, and it set the stage for Abigail Yenalevitch (Kingston, PA). With one out, Yenalevitch went the other way on the first pitch she saw, beating the right fielder to the corner. As the ball bounded towards the fence, Yenalevitch motored around the bases and scored the walk-off two-run inside-the-park homer, ending things via run-rule at 9-0.
 
Knott was 2-for-2 with two RBIs, while Mazol had two RBIs and a triple. Yenalevitch had two RBIs on her home run, and Fleisher scored two runs for the Falcons.
 
Game two was a struggle for the Lackawanna offense, as the Falcons could only muster just one hit against an impressive performance from State Fair pitcher Corrinne Tuck, who allowed just one hit and struck out eleven in seven innings of work.
 
In the first inning, the Roadrunners had two on with two out when an error on the infield allowed the inning to continue. A single to deep short then let a runner score, making it 1-0, State Fair, heading into the bottom frame.
 
Lackawanna got a base runner via error with two outs in the bottom half, but a strikeout ended the inning before the Falcons could do anything.
 
There wasn't much going for either side until the bottom of the third, when the Falcons got a pair of baserunners. It started when Madison Pirolli (Southampton, PA) singled to left to lead the inning off. She got to second on passed ball with nobody out, but there she stayed. Mazol drew a two-out walk to put two on, but a weak grounder to first would end the inning early.
 
In the top of the fourth, a leadoff triple gave State Fair a baserunner. With one out, a single to center scored the runner and gave the Roadrunners a crucial 2-0 advantage. Another single to center put runners on the corners, and a conference in the pitching circle eventually resulted in a change, with Fleisher subbing out and Scalese coming in from center field to pitch. Scalese stepped up, getting a pair of outs to keep things stuck at the 2-0 deficit.
 
The Falcons got a runner on second in the bottom half, but a base running error cut that runner down, and Lackawanna was unable to push anything across.
 
Scalese stranded a pair of runners in the top of the fifth, but the Falcons were retired in order in the bottom half. Revere came in to pitch in the sixth, and she retired the side in order, but the Falcons were held without anything in both the sixth and seventh innings, as State Fair took the Falcons down for the win.
 
Pirolli had the only hit for the Falcons, and Lackawanna stranded four runners. Fleisher received the loss, giving up two runs on six hits in 3.1 innings. Scalese and Revere combined to throw 3.2 innings of no-hit relief, striking out three.
 
Lackawanna has one more pair of games in South Carolina this week, playing two on Friday, March 20^th. The first will be against Oakton College at 12:00pm ET, followed by a contest against Metropolitan CC at 2:00pm ET.