Game 1 Box Score Game 2 Box Score
GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley College softball team started its Commonwealth Conference schedule successfully on Saturday, sweeping a doubleheader from Messiah College by scores of 2-1 and 7-4.
LVC (12-2, 2-0 CC), which came from behind in both games, received another all-around stellar performance from junior Jenn Roberts. In the opener, Roberts (3-1) threw a four-hit complete game and helped herself with what held up as the game-winning RBI-single in the top of the sixth. Then in the nightcap, she clubbed a big three-run homer to help LVC erase an early 3-0 deficit.
Messiah (13-7, 2-2 CC) took a 1-0 lead in the Game One with a single and a double in the first, but Roberts blanked the Falcons the rest of the way while striking out nine. The complete game was the 28th of her career, tying the school record of 28 held by Sam Rill ’02.
Lebanon Valley tied it up when junior Kelly O’Toole drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth. Junior Amy Batz, who also scored the Valley’s first run, got things started in the sixth with a leadoff single. She moved up to third on a sacrifice bunt from junior Jenn Parks and a ground-out before Roberts’ game-winning hit.
In the second game, the Falcons pushed across two run in the first and one in the second before LVC rallied with a four-run third on a Batz RBI-single and Roberts’ homer. Messiah came right back in the third to tie it 4-4, but the Valley went ahead to stay in the fifth. Sophomore Lauren Sanford got on with a walk and went on to score on another run-scoring single from Batz.
Lebanon Valley added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh, with freshman Katie DeJulio knocking in one with a single.
O’Toole (3-0) pitched the second game for LVC and also threw a complete game. She struck out four while putting up four straight zeroes from the fourth through the seventh innings.
Lebanon Valley opens up a six-game homestand on Tuesday, when it hosts Gettysburg College in a non-conference doubleheader starting at 2:30 p.m.
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