LA PLUME, Pa. – Immaculata University stayed undefeated in Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) play by sweeping Keystone College in a softball doubleheader on Tuesday afternoon. The visiting Mighty Macs won the opener, 7-4, in an eight-inning affair, and then cruised to a 14-5 win in the nightcap.
 
In game one, Samantha Strickland hit a RBI single in the top of the seventh to plate Melissa Ejk, who singled earlier, to tie the game at 3-3 and force extra innings.
 
However, it didn't take the Mighty Macs long to open the door as they scored four runs in the top of the eighth inning to take the lead. Immaculata capitalized on three hits, two walks and one Keystone error to plate the game-winning run.
 
Immaculata (10-9, 7-0 CSAC) loaded the bases with only one out as Holly Schell singled and then Christiana Donofry and Ejk walked. Danielle Palmisano reached on a fielder's choice that took Schell home, while Ejk was called out at second. Donofry then scored on the play for Immaculata after a Keystone error. Two batters later, the Mighty Macs still had the bases full, and Jessica DeCastro delivered a double down the left field line to score the Mighty Macs' final two runs of the game.
 
Immaculata got on the scoreboard first in the top of the third as the Mighty Macs used a squeeze play by Allison Zborowski to score Ejk from third.
 
Keystone then tied the game a 1-1 in its half of the fourth, but Immaculata regained the lead in the fifth with a solo home run by Palmisano.  
 
The Giants scored two more runs in the sixth to give the hosts a 3-2 lead heading into the seventh inning.
 
Meagan Fitzgerald (8-4) pitched eight innings in the circle for the Mighty Macs allowing four runs, two earned, on eight hits. She struck out seven and walked just one.
 
Strickland was 3-for-4 with one RBI, while Ejk and Palmisano each collected two hits and scored twice. Palmisano also had two RBI.  
 
In the nightcap, Immaculata used an eight-run seventh to propel the Mighty Macs to the victory, 14-5. Immaculata had pushed two runs across in the first and two more in the third for the early 4-2 lead, before adding single runs in the fourth and sixth.
 
The first two Mighty Mac hitters of the game reached on singles, but it was Strickland's two-out RBI single that scored Schell, and Donofry then scored on a wild pitch.
 
After Keystone tied the score with two runs of its own in the bottom portion of the first, Immaculata took the lead for good in the third. The Mighty Macs again produced two runs with two outs as they got three hits and two walks. Immaculata loaded up the bases for Caitlin Hudock to have a two-RBI single to right field.
 
The Mighty Macs and Giants traded single runs in the fourth as Schell hit a RBI single to score DeCastro for Immaculata. Immaculata's run in the sixth came courtesy of a double into left field for Donofry that scored Schell.
 
Keystone brought the game within one run, 6-5, after it scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Immaculata then answered with its big inning.
 
Nicole Curcione went the distance for the Mighty Macs giving up five runs on nine hits. She had six strikeouts and walked four.  
 
Donofry was 4-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI. Schell, Strickland and Hudock all had three hits apiece, while Hudock had four RBI, Strickland had three and Schell had two. As a team, Immaculata scattered 19 hits.
 
Immaculata hosts Cabrini on Friday at 3 p.m.