Softball Opens With 11-5 Triumph At Leadoff Classic

Box Score

CLEARWATER, Fla. – Sarah Walasavage (Minersville, Pa./Minersville) went 2-for-3 with a bases-clearing triple and three runs scored, and Alyssa Herion (West Grove, Pa./Avon Grove) hit a home run and knocked in another, to lead West Chester to an 11-5 victory in their opening game of the NFCA Leadoff Classic at E.C. Moore Complex in Clearwater, Fla., Friday night.
 
Walasavage sparked a two-run rally in the bottom of the fifth with the game tied that put West Chester (1-0) in front for good. She then tripled with the bases loaded in the sixth to break open an otherwise very closely contested ballgame.
 
"Wally" singled and stole second to lead off the fifth. She would eventually score on a fielding error by Tiffin's centerfielder to give the Golden Rams a 5-4 lead. Herion's single up the middle later that frame added to the Rams' lead.
 
In the sixth, Kelly Tinsman (Ewing, N.J./Notre Dame) pinch hit and walked to lead off the inning. Freshman, Bri Garber (Willow Street, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg), followed with a bunt single down the third-base line, putting runners at first and second with nobody out. Fellow freshman Emily Maseth (Westminster, Md./Westminster) pinch hit and doubled to left, chasing home Tinsman, in her first college at bat. Madison Kelly (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) then walked to load the bases for Wally.
 
Herion hit a solo home run in the third that gave West Chester a 4-1 lead at the time. However, the Dragons responded with three in the fourth off starter Amanda Houck (Gap, Pa./Pequea Valley) to tie things up.
 
Walasavage was the impetus behind a two-run first that staked the Golden Rams to an early 2-0 lead. After Tiffin got one of those runs back in the second, West Chester took advantage of a Dragon's error in the second to jump in front, 3-1.
 
Houck started and lasted 3.2 innings. She later came back in relief to get the final two outs of the contest. She yielded four runs, three of them earned, on nine hits while walking one and striking out five. Brooke Harner (Chadds Ford, Pa./Kennett) came on in relief in the fourth and earned the win. She threw 2.2 innings, surrendering one run on three hits. She walked one and fanned four.
 
West Chester takes on Rollins later Friday night at the E.C. Moore Complex.