SWARTHMORE, Pa. – Immaculata University came back to win game two and earn a split with Swarthmore College in softball action on Tuesday afternoon. After falling in game one, 8-0, the Mighty Macs took the nightcap, 5-2.
Immaculata (11-14) pushed one run across in the top of the second inning as it loaded the bases on Allison Zborowski and Kathleen Haefner's singles and Holly Schell's walk. Katie Schreck was then hit by the pitch, scoring Zborowski.
The Mighty Macs scored twice more in the third inning to lead 3-0. The first three hitters all got on base to load the bases once more. McKenzie Brown then reached on a fielders' choice as the Garnet cut down the leading runner coming home. Haefner then hit a RBI single to center field that plated Julia Lamplugh. Schell later reached on an error that allowed Carol Mastrosante to come home for the second run of the inning.
Swarthmore answered with two runs in the bottom half of the third, cutting Immaculata's lead to 3-2.
Immaculata pushed across two insurance runs in the fifth. Haefner doubled down the right field line, and two batters later the Garnet committed a fielding error that allowed Haefner to score. Schell, who had reached on an error, stole home for the second unearned run of the inning.
Lamplugh and Haefner each were 3-for-4 in game two, and Haefner had one RBI. Mastrosante also had two hits, and Schreck had a team-best two RBI.
Zborowski allowed just one earned run on four hits in 4.2 innings to capture the win in the circle. Nikki Curcione pitched the final 2.1 innings, not allowing a hit.
Isabel Sanchez pitched just two innings for Swarthmore and was tagged for the loss. Sanches gave up four hits that produced three runs, two earned. Marley Spector went the final five innings for the Garnet, allowing six hits and two runs.
In the opener, Swarthmore's Kathryn Riley pitched a five-inning complete game one-hitter. Immaculata's Lamplugh broke up the no-hitter in the top of the fifth as she singled to center field to lead off the inning. Curcione had spoiled the perfect game for Riley in the third when she walked to start things off for the Mighty Macs.
Curcione went three innings in the circle and took the loss. She allowed five earned runs on six hits, walked two and struck out one. Brooke Habermehl came in and pitched the final two innings for Immaculata. Habermehl allowed two runs, one earned, on two hits.
The Garnet was led by Danielle Seltzer's 2-for-2 at the plate with four RBI and two runs scored. Seltzer hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the first to stake Swarthmore out to a 4-0 lead. Swarthmore scored twice more in the third and the game ended after it scored two more runs in the bottom of the fifth.
Immaculata plays its final non-conference doubleheader of the season on Thursday, traveling to Elizabethtown at 3 p.m.
