Game 1 Box Score Game 2 Box Score
ANNVILLE, Pa. – Sophomore Kelly O’Toole hurled a one-hit shutout as the Lebanon Valley College softball team knocked off No. 9 Moravian 1-0 in the nightcap of a Commonwealth Conference doubleheader Tuesday afternoon at the LVC Softball Park.
Moravian (27-4, 9-1 CC) won the first game 5-0 and remains one game in front of Lebanon Valley in the Commonwealth Conference standings.
With its win in Game Two, Lebanon Valley (21-7, 8-2 CC) broke Moravian’s 21-game winning streak, handing the Greyhounds their first loss since their 3-1 setback at Salisbury on March 12. LVC’s win also snapped Moravian’s 25-game regular season Commonwealth Conference winning streak, marking the ’Hounds first regular season conference loss since they fell 5-3 to Elizabethtown on April 27, 2003.
In the first game, junior Meagan Hennessy fired a four-hit shutout as she tied the Moravian career record for wins at 59. Sophomore Jenn Roberts started for Lebanon Valley and suffered her first loss of the season, as she allowed four runs (two earned) on eight hits.
Moravian got off to a 2-0 lead in the first game when it pushed across a pair of unearned runs in the top of the first. With runners on first and second and none out, Roberts (11-1) collected a sacrifice bunt, but threw the ball away at third, allowing a run to score. Roberts would go on to retire the next three batters on an RBI-groundout sandwiched around a pair of flyouts.
The Greyhounds added single runs on a combined five hits in the third and fourth against Roberts. Junior Alisa Albers came on to throw the final three innings out of the bullpen, and she yielded just one run on three hits and five walks.
Lebanon Valley’s best chance to score came in the third, when they put runners on first and third with two outs after a pair of singles and a fielder’s choice. But Hennessy got out of it when sophomore outfielder Amy Batz lined out hard to the shortstop.
Freshman designated player Lauren Sanford led the Valley at the plate in opener, going 2-for-3 with a pair of singles.
Hennessy (21-3) struck out 10 and walked one in Game One.
O’Toole (7-3) was nearly perfect in the second game, as she retired 21 of the 23 batters she faced. She retired the first seven batters of the game before sophomore leftfielder LeeAnna Roberts tripled to center with one out in the third. But O’Toole would leave her there after getting a groundout and popout to end the inning.
O’Toole retired 12 batters in a row following Roberts’ triple before freshman second baseman Beth Paly walked with one out in the seventh. But after getting a popout, sophomore third baseman Jenn Parks made a great defensive play to end the game. Parks, who snared three hard-hit line drives earlier in the game, knocked down another liner, then recovered to pick up the ball and throw the runner out at first.
O’Toole struck out one and induced 14 fly-ball outs and six groundouts en route to her second shutout of the season.
Lebanon Valley scored the game’s only run on two singles and a fielder’s choice in the third. Sophomore shortstop Audrey Benner got things started when she legged out an infield single to the shortstop with one out. Senior second baseman Gina Battistelli then hit a grounder to the shortstop, who decided to go for the out at second rather than the sure out at first. But Benner was safe sliding into second, and two batters later, junior rightfielder Lisa DiCristofaro hit a two-out blooper that dropped in just in front of the centerfielder to plate Benner from second.
Hennessy finished the game and allowed five hits and no walks while striking out four.
DiCristofaro was 2-for-3 in the nightcap.
Lebanon Valley plays its final home games of the season on Thursday, when it hosts Wilkes in a non-conference doubleheader starting at 3:30 p.m.
[Photo - Sophomore Kelly O'Toole, who threw a one-hit shutout in Lebanon Valley's 1-0 win over ninth-ranked Moravian]
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