Baseball, men’s tennis, women’s golf

Softball “squeezes” by swarthmore

Over her last three starts Bruckner is 3-0 with a 3.77 ERA.

The Muhlenberg softball team just squeezed by Swarthmore in Game 1 of the teams’ doubleheader.

The Mules won, 2-0, scoring the winning run on a suicide squeeze play. Muhlenberg then nearly rallied all the way back from a 9-0 deficit in Game 2 but ultimately fell, 9-7.

The first game was an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel, and junior Alyssa Bruckner proved more than up to the task. Bruckner retired the first 11 batters she faced, losing a no-hit bid with two outs in the fourth.

The Garnet (10-16, 3-5) managed back-to-back hits in the inning, but Bruckner worked out of a first-and-third jam with a harmless pop-up to second.

Click above to see the video of Blohm’s suicide squeeze.

Her teammates then manufactured all the run support she would need in the bottom-half of the inning. Junior Ashley Brewer led off with a single to left and stole second. She was sacrificed over to third, and then sophomore Brittany Blohm laid down a suicide squeeze that plated Brewer.

Blohm moved up to second on a single from sophomore Shelby Smith and then scored on a strange play. The catcher recovered from a passed ball only to overthrow the third baseman, making it 2-0.

Bruckner continued to cruise from there, allowing just two hits over the final three innings. She finished with a complete-game four-hit shutout and neither struck out nor walked a batter.

Swarthmore built a huge 9-0 lead in Game 2 before the Mules (8-11, 4-4) stormed back. After scoring two in the fourth, Muhlenberg put together a five-run sixth on the strength of a bases-loaded triple from junior Alyssa Epstein. A bad throw home then allowed Epstein to score on the play, bringing the Mules to within three on one swing of the bat.

With the bases emptied freshman Jessica Costa and senior Jenna Van Waalwijk got another rally going with back-to-back one-out singles. With first and third, Van Waalwijk stole second and Costa broke for home and beat the throw to make it 9-7.

Blohm led off the seventh by ripping the first pitch she saw up the middle for a single, but Muhlenberg went down 1-2-3 from there to end the game.

Blohm went 3-for-6 with three runs scored in the two games, and Smith also went 3-for-6. Brewer swiped two bases in each game. Epstein had all four of the Mules’ RBI in Game 2.
Click here for line scores.
Click for complete stats: Game 1 | Game 2