MELBOURNE, Fl.- The West Chester University softball team (5-4) returned to action on Saturday morning in Florida for its first doubleheader of its Spring trip to the Sunshine State against Franklin Pierce. West Chester won the first game of the day by a 2-1 final before dropping the nightcap on walk-off double by a 4-3 final.
Game One: WCU 2 FPU 1
Danielle Ciliberto (Ambler, Pa./Wissahickon) picked up her fourth win of the year in the circle, pitching 5.1 innings and allowing just one unearned run on two hits, while striking out four.
Makenzie Edwards (Atco, N.J./Hammonton) picked up a five-out save, registering a pair of strikeouts to close out the victory for West Chester.
West Chester opened the scoring in the second with an RBI single by
Madison Melvin (Tabernacle, N.J./Seneca), which scored
Meg Wolfe (Pine Grove, Pa./Pine Grove).
In the fourth inning,
Grace Aguilar (Frederica, Del./Lake Forest) doubled the West Chester lead, working a bases loaded walk to score
Mairead Hopkins (West Chester, Pa./Rustin), who had pinch run for
Alexa Peterson (Exton, Pa./Bishop Shanahan) after she singled earlier in the inning.
Franklin Pierce cut into the deficit in the sixth with a single down the third base line, which plated Bella Williams who had reached on an error and stolen second earlier in the inning. This run closed the book on Ciliberto as the Golden Rams turned to Edwards to escape the jam, which she did with a quick line drive double play. Edwards worked a quick top of the seventh to deliver a game-one victory to the Golden Rams.
Game Two: FPU 4 WCU 3
West Chester got out to an early lead in game two, using a pair of RBI singles by
Grace Aguilar (Frederica, Del./Lake Forest) and
Hailey Melvin (Tabernacle, N.J./Seneca) to get out to an early 2-0 lead.
Franklin Pierce cut into the deficit with an RBI single of its own in the third but West Chester stretched the lead back to two in the top of the sixth when Peterson hit an RBI single to plate Hopkins and give West Chester a 3-1 lead.
Franklin Pierce cut the deficit to 3-2 in the sixth before walking it off with a bases-clearing two RBI double in the seventh, securing a 4-3 comeback victory over the Golden Rams.
Edwards got the start and pitched the first 5.2 innings, allowing two runs on five hits while walking one. Ciliberto entered in relief and suffered the loss on Saturday afternoon, pitching the final inning, allowing two runs on two hits to drop to 4-2 on the season.
Georgia Clough bounced back from a game one loss with a victory in game two as she went the distance in the circle, allowing three runs on six hits and five walks, while striking out three to improve to 1-2 on the season.
Up Next:
West Chester will return to action on Sunday morning in a doubleheader against Felician beginning at 10 a.m. West Chester also announced a schedule change for its Florida slate as the Golden Rams will now play just one game vs Molloy on Tuesday and will play a game vs Post following that game on Tuesday afternoon.
