Drexel University Athletics
Drexel University
Towson
Dragons Battle Back For Doubleheader Split at Towson
5/1/2009 2:51:33 PM | Softball
Towson, Md. – Drexel softball (24-20, 7-12) salvaged a split with Towson (31-20, 12-8) in the team's final CAA doubleheader of the season. The Tigers blasted Drexel 10-1 in a run-rule shortened five-inning game one. But the Dragons bounced back for an exciting 4-2 victory highlighted by a two-run go-ahead homer by Christina Rodriguez in the seventh inning. Also in the nightcap, senior Lisa Williams became just the third player in Drexel history to score 100 career runs. The team's finish out their 2009 regular-season slates with a single game tomorrow at 1:00.
Game One
Towson used a four-run fifth inning to pull ahead of the Dragons 10-1 and end the opening game of Friday's twinbill early courtesy of the eight-run mercy rule. Two Drexel errors resulted in five unearned runs in the contest and that was all Towson starter Shannon Johnston needed to win her CAA-leading 19th game of the season. Kelly Downes drove in the Dragons' lone run of the game in the third inning.
Hillary Allen dropped to 11-10 on the season after allowing Towson 10 hits and five earned runs through four and one-third innings.
Towson got one run in the first inning when Allen gave up a lead-off single and followed it with a walk and a pair of hit batters to push home a run. The Tigers picked up a second run on a catcher's interference call with the bases loaded. Drexel got out of the inning with a double play on a ball grounded back to Allen.
Drexel got on the scoreboard in the second inning when Downes singled down the left field line to bring home Christina Rodriguez from second base.
But the Tigers would break the game wide open in the bottom of the frame on a grand slam by Mindy Bean that gave Towson a commanding 6-1 lead.
The Tigers ended the game in the fifth inning after an RBI double by Amanda Stevenson and a three-run shot by Sammi DiPompo gave Towson the necessary eight-run lead through five innings to invoke the mercy rule.
Johnston got the win after allowing just one run on three hits and two walks. She is 19-8 on the season and currently leads the CAA in victories.
Game Two
Christina Rodriguez belted a two-run homer in the top of the seventh inning to give Drexel its first conference victory since April 5. The shot gave Drexel the lead it would need to hold on for a 4-2 victory that salvaged a split with Towson on day one of the team's three-game series. Senior Amanda Shattuck pitched turned in one of the best outings of her Drexel career, throwing seven innings and allowing one run on three hits for her third win of the season.
Senior Lisa Williams scored her 100th career run to become just the third player in Drexel history to reach the plateau. William's lead-off double in the fifth inning led to Drexel's second run of the game. Fellow senior Sandi Wambold brought Williams in from second with a single to right center that gave the Dragons a 2-1 lead. Wambold finished the game 2-for-3 at the plate and was one of three Dragons with multi-hit games.
Drexel got its first run in the game courtesy of the hot bat of Kelly Downes, who drove in the Dragons' only run in the opener. Downes dropped a single into right field to drive in Paige Collings from third base. It was the first of two hits in the game for the second baseman.
Towson got one run back in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single by Kim Lempa that brought home pinch runner Jocelyn Hall from third. The Tigers had a golden opportunity in the sixth inning when the Dragons brought back game one starter Hillary Allen in relief of Amanda Shattuck. Allen, showing more of the control problems that bothered her in the first game, hit lead-off batter Sammi DiPompo and sent her to second with a wild pitch. Three straight singles followed, the third of which, off the bat of Joyce Delp, brought home the tying run and loaded the bases.
Shattuck returned to the game for Drexel and got Erica Stasch to pop up for a rally-killing double play. She then got Meaghan Clark to fly out to end the inning with the score tied at 2-2, setting up Rodriguez's big swing in the seventh inning. The senior hurler then stepped to the mound in the bottom of the seventh and retired the Tigers in order on three ground outs.
Kelly Ebner took the loss for Towson after allowing Rodriguez's go-ahead homer during her two innings in relief of starter Dominque Ortega. Ortega worked five innings and allowed one earned run on nine hits and a walk while facing 24 batters.
The win snapped an eight-game losing skid in conference play for the Dragons and gave the team its seventh CAA victory of the season. The teams will wrap up the series tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. in Maryland.
