softball game worth the wait

Baseball Falls to Fords Despite hitting two home runs, the Muhlenberg baseball team lost at Haverford, 8-4, to finish an 0-4 week against two 2008 Centennial Conference playoff teams. The Mules (9-16-1, 3-5) trailed 8-0 before senior Christian Conti blasted his third home run of the season, and the 15th of his career, in the top of the eighth. Junior Eric Pomroy hit a two-run homer in the ninth. Junior Dan Fisher became the fourth Muhlenberg player this year to join the 100-hit club when he doubled in the ninth, leading to the last run of the game. Click here for line score. Click here for complete stats.

Yeah, things are going a little differently for the Muhlenberg softball team this year.

Van Waalwijk was perfect in four plate appearances, with a double, a single, a walk and a sacrifice.

The Mules actually got to play Susquehanna.

Every year from 2003 to 2008, the scheduled doubleheader between the two schools was cancelled due to weather. Mother Nature finally cooperated this year, although the teams played only one game by mutual agreement.

Another difference is that Muhlenberg is winning. The Mules (13-10) extended their winning streak to seven games by defeating the Crusaders, 9-3, moving to three games over .500 for the first time since 2005.

Freshman Shelby Smith went 3-for-4 at the plate and earned her first career win as a pitcher. She singled and scored the first run of the game in the top of the first, but the Crusaders (11-10) took a 3-2 lead after three innings.

Muhlenberg scored five runs in the fourth to take the lead for good. Junior Jenna Van Waalwijk led off with a double and scored on a throwing error. Sophomore Ashley Brewer drove in two runners (including Smith, who had singled) with a double and scored on a dropped fly ball. Freshman Brittany Blohm capped the outburst with an RBI single.

Smith pitched the bottom of the fourth and retired Susquehanna 1-2-3. She drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth, then handed the ball to sophomore Alyssa Bruckner. The Crusaders got runners to second and third with nobody out, but Bruckner worked out of the jam and pitched three scoreless innings to earn her first career save.

Smith’s two-out double drove in the final run of the game in the seventh.
Click here for line score.
Click here for complete stats.