Game 1 Box Score Game 2 Box Score
READING, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley College softball team concluded its regular season on Sunday afternoon and split a doubleheader with host Albright in a Commonwealth Conference twinbill.
Sophomore Jenn Roberts fashioned a five-hit complete game in the opener, an 8-3 LVC win, to pick up her 14th win of the season. Albright captured a 7-0 victory in the nightcap behind a four-hit shutout from Ashley Young.
Lebanon Valley (25-9, 11-3 CC) has earned the two seed in the Commonwealth Conference championship tournament, to be held on Friday and Saturday at Susquehanna University, and will face either Albright (21-13, 9-5 CC) or Messiah (14-20, 7-5 CC), which concludes its Commonwealth Conference schedule on Monday with a doubleheader against Elizabethtown, in the first round.
In the first game, Lebanon Valley did the bulk of its damage in the second and third innings, scoring seven times on eight hits over the two frames against Albright starter Meredith Mayes. Junior rightfielder Lisa DiCristofaro lined a two-run double over the leftfielder's head to put the Valley up 2-0 in the second before senior second baseman Gina Battistelli cracked an RBI-single two batters later. Sophomore leftfielder Amy Batz capped LVC's five-run, five-hit second with a two-run double that got past a diving leftfielder and rolled all the way to the fence.
In the third, DiCristofaro and freshman designated player Lauren Sanford ripped back-to-back singles to make it 7-0.
Mayes (10-4) settled in after the third and allowed only one run on four hits the rest of the way. She walked two and struck out three for the game.
Roberts (14-1) cruised through the first five innings, shutting out the Lions on two hits while retiring 15 of the first 17 batters she faced. Albright rallied with three runs on three hits and an error in the sixth.
Roberts finished with no walks and eight strikeouts.
DiCristofaro went 3-for-4 with two runs and three RBIs in the opener while sophomore third baseman Jenn Parks was 3-for-3 with three RBIs. Battistelli, Batz, and Roberts thumped two hits apiece as part of the Valley's 14-hit attack.
In the second game, Albright pushed across a pair of unearned runs in the first against Lebanon Valley starter Kelly O'Toole, who threw five innings. The Lions went on to plate single runs in the second and fifth before adding three in the sixth against freshman Nicole Henry, who made her second collegiate appearance and her first since the team's season opener on March 4.
Young (9-8) was impressive for Albright, as her four hits allowed were LVC's only four baserunners. She walked none and struck out seven.
O'Toole (8-4) and Henry finished with no walks and one strikeout apiece.
Junior catcher Mandi Nace went 2-for-3 at the plate in the nightcap for LVC.
[Photo - Junior Lisa DiCristofaro, who was 3-for-4 with two runs and three RBIs in Lebanon Valley's 8-3 win over Albright on Sunday]
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