Game 1 Box Score Game 2 Box Score
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – Sophomore Jenn Roberts fired a 10-inning, five-hit shutout and hit a game-winning two-run homer in the opener of a Lebanon Valley sweep over host Elizabethtown in a Commonwealth Conference doubleheader Tuesday afternoon.
Lebanon Valley won the first game 2-0 before topping the Blue Jays 6-2 in the nightcap on a complete-game seven-hitter from sophomore Kelly O’Toole.
Senior centerfielder Melissa Ulrich finished the twinbill 4-for-8 for Lebanon Valley.
With the win, LVC (24-8, 10-2 CC), which has clinched a second-straight berth in the Commonwealth Conference playoffs, stayed within a game of Moravian for first place in the conference standings. The Valley also set a school record with its 10th Commonwealth Conference win.
Elizabethtown dropped to 5-23-1 and 2-10 in conference play.
Lebanon Valley played its first extra-inning game of the season, and it was the team’s longest game since its 4-3, 10-inning win over Albright in last season’s regular-season finale.
Roberts (13-1) struck out a career-high 16 while working her longest collegiate outing. She had at least one strikeout in eight of 10 innings and with her win, set a Lebanon Valley single-season record. Amy Zellers ’00 held the previous record when she finished 12-6 in 2000.
As well as Roberts pitched, freshman Alex Lee was just as effective for Elizabethtown in the first game. Lee held LVC to four hits over the first nine innings before Roberts took matters into her own hands in the 10th.
Sophomore third baseman Jenn Parks was placed on second base to start the 10th, in accordance with international tie-breaking rules. Two batters later, Roberts launched a towering, slicing drive down the rightfield line. The ball sailed just over the foul pole, giving Roberts her first home run of the season and the second of her career.
In the bottom of the inning, Elizabethtown catcher Abbey Merrifield was placed on second, and she reached third on a wild pitch with no outs. But Roberts dug in to fan the side against E-town’s 5-6-7 hitters to record her sixth shutout of the season.
Prior to the 10th, Lebanon Valley did not have a runner reach third against Lee. Elizabethtown reached base four times on three hits and a walk over the first four innings before Roberts settled in. She retired 13 consecutive batters before centerfielder Kelli Thon reached on a bunt with two outs in the eighth. But freshman catcher Jessica Salisbury quelled the threat when she threw out Thon stealing second to end the inning.
Lee (3-11) held LVC to six hits while walking one and striking out six.
Ulrich and senior first baseman Chris Jessen each had a pair of singles in the first game for LVC.
Lebanon Valley found its swing in the second game and banged out 12 hits, the most since its 17-hit performance in a 12-0 win over Dickinson on March 31, while utilizing five Elizabethtown errors.
Sophomore Audrey Benner gave LVC a 1-0 lead in the second when she reached on an error and scored from third two batters later on a suicide squeeze by sophomore designated player Lauren Sanford.
After E-town tied it with a double and a two-out single in the bottom of the inning, Lebanon Valley went ahead to stay when it scored twice on a pair of throwing errors in the fourth.
The Blue Jays made it a 3-2 game on a single and triple before LVC put the game away with a three-run sixth. Sophomore leftfielder Amy Batz ripped a two-run single and scored on an Ulrich one-bagger.
O’Toole (8-3) had no walks and no strikeouts while throwing her ninth complete game of the season. Sarah Lengel (1-3) suffered the loss for Elizabethtown, allowing all six LVC runs (four earned) on 10 hits and three walks. Jessica Cullum threw 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.
Sanford finished 3-for-3 with a pair of runs in the nightcap while Batz and Ulrich rapped out two hits apiece.
Lebanon Valley concludes its regular season on Saturday, when it visits Albright at 1 p.m. in a Commonwealth Conference doubleheader.
[Photo - Sophomore Jenn Roberts, who threw a 10-inning, five-hit shutout and hit the game-winning home run in a 2-0 win over Elizabethtown on Tuesday]
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