Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Softball
#12 Lebanon Valley 14, Hood 0 (5 inn.)
#12 Lebanon Valley 9, Hood 0 (6 inn.)

FREDERICK, Md. - #12 Lebanon Valley clinched a Commonwealth Conference tournament berth with a pair of run-rule wins at Hood on Sunday.

The Dutchmen (21-2, 10-0 CC) were firing on all cylinders as they beat the Blazers (13-11, 1-7 CC) 14-0 in five innings to start and 9-0 in six innings in the second game. Despite being idle on Saturday, the defending CC champions took over sole possession of first place in the league with Messiah's loss to Albright; the Dutchmen visit Messiah on Tuesday.

LVC smacked 31 hits combined and received sterling pitching performances from Sam Derr and Haley Neff to stay perfect in conference play. Jordyn Miller drove in four runs in the opener and Derr had three RBI, while Sammy Bost went 3-for-3 with two runs scored and Tessa Deardorff was 3-for-4 with an RBI in the nightcap to lead the offense.

Derr (12-0) two-hit hood through five innings, striking out four, while Neff (8-2) whiffed six and scattered three hits over six innings in game two.

Game One
Lebanon Valley pounced on early mistakes to take a 4-0 lead, then piled on nine runs over the fourth and fifth innings to run-rule Hood 14-0 in the opener.

A single by Bost and double by Derr put two on in the first, and after Allie Hartman reached on an error, Jordyn Miller blasted a bases-loaded two-run double that Emily Johnson followed with an RBI single to put LVC ahead 3-0. Angela Harris drove in a fourth run on a grounder later in the inning.

Katie Deardorff knocked in Hartman after her lead-off double in the third, and a Hood error in the fourth helped LVC score three more runs on Derr's sacrifice fly to plate Mary Readinger and another two-run double by Miller.

That already had the Dutchmen ahead 8-0 through four, but a six-run fifth inning punctuated the win. Bost singled with the bases loaded to start the rally before Derr hit a two-run single through the right side and RBI singles by Hartman and Johnson ended it at 14-0.

Derr continued her recent dominance, throwing her seventh shutout of the season by allowing just one baserunner to reach second on two hits. She also produced at the plate, going 2-for-3 with three RBI, one of five Dutchmen with a multi-hit game along with Bost (3-for-4), Hartman (2-for-4), Miller (2-for-3), and Johnson (2-for-4).

Game Two
It was more of the same in the second game as LVC jumped ahead early and never stepped off the pedal.

Hartman and Kelli Valle drove in runs and Jordyn Miller scored on an error to lead 3-0, and another Hood error in the fourth allowed Tessa Deardorff and Bost to score unearned. Deardorff and Mary Readinger knocked in runs in the fifth to make it 7-0, and two more runs in the sixth invoked the run rule with the Blazers' fourth error of the game helping Valle and Katie Deardorff come across on Liz Bauer's single.

Neff held Hood in check with three baserunners through five innings, and LVC's defense helped her with an inning-ending double play in the first and smart baserunner management in the sixth to get two outs at third and another at second.

Bost continued to swing a hot bat in the nightcap, going 3-for-3 with a pair of runs scored; Tessa Deardorff also collected three hits while Hartman and Katie Deardorff had two each.

Next Time
LVC visit Messiah on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.