Riley helps keep Gettysburg’s offense within striking distance
Photo credit: Gettysburg College Athletics
By Charlie Williamson, Staff Writer
The Gettysburg College Women’s Softball team (17-8-1, 6-3-1 CC) dominated Haverford and Dickinson this past weekend, outscoring their opponents 29-5 over 4 games.
On Saturday, the Bullets took on Haverford in a double header, winning 8-3 in the first and 14-2 in the second game. Both games were a hit barrage, as Gettysburg totaled 29 hits combined from both games.
The first game featured big days from senior shortstop Jamie Abell and junior first basemen Wendy Folfas, who both smacked five hits apiece.
The scoring started in the second inning, with a bases loaded walk, however Gettysburg was unable to score again until the last inning. Haverford took advantage of Gettysburg’s scoring lulls and took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Needing to stay within striking distance, junior pitcher Aileen Riley stepped up in the last three innings, allowing only one batter to reach base. Riley struck out five of the last ten batters to tie her career high with 11 in the game.
Gettysburg game alive in the seventh as the first four hitters ripped singles, producing two runs to tie the game. Sophomore catcher Meredith Taylor and Folfas each followed with their own RBI singles. The cap on the offensive assault was a three-run jack from freshman third basemen Sarahrose Jonik, the first of her career.
Feeding off the momentum of the first game, Gettysburg plated five runs in the first inning. Folfas hit a single to center to score the first two followed by a three-run double down the left field line from freshman outfielder Liz Cowell.
Haverford scored single runs in the first and fifth innings, but were ultimately mercy ruled in the fifth inning.
On Sunday, Dickinson was shutout in both games thanks to a 3-hit shutout from Riley in the first and and a four hitter from sophomore Morgan Clauser in the second game.
Jamie Abell slapped five of the Bullet’s twelve hits on the day, moving past Joy Hallfors ’13 and Melissa Tighe ’15 on Gettysburg’s all-time hit list.
Abell’s two-out double in the fifth provided the first run of the game. The Bullets scored single runs in the sixth and seventh with respective RBI singles from sophomore middle-infielder Sophia Blasius and first-year outfielder Mattea Ghaffary.
The second game was smooth sailing for Morgan Clauser as the only crisis she faced was when the Red-Devils got back-to-back one-out singles in the first inning. Clauser then got Dickinson to fly out twice and only allowed two more hits in the game.
Clauser (10-2) leads the team in wins and says mental preparation is what helps her confidence when she is on the mound. She also said Coach Hunt-Sheppard is flexible when it comes to letting her pitchers do what they need to do to be ready for gameday, which has helped the Bullet’s team E.R.A. stay at 1.35.
In the second inning, Gettysburg took advantage of Dickinson’s sloppiness behind the plate, scoring twice on wild pitches. The Bullets would grab two more unearned runs in the fourth capped by a sacrifice fly from junior corner infielder Stephanie Leonardo.
“The four wins we got this weekend gave us so much confidence and it was definitely a morale booster,” Meredith Taylor said. “I think the only thing we need to work on is continuing to string together hits just like we did this weekend. We did a really good job getting the doubles and singles to get runners in and we just need to stick to that mentality and keep playing our game.”
