Softball Falls to Delaware in Doubleheader

Sunday, March 24

Drexel Softball Field

12:00 p.m.

Drexel University

8-17, 0

Delaware

21-4, 0

Delaware

Drexel

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

3/24/2013 5:46:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

PHILADELPHIA - The Drexel softball team will start its Colonial Athletic Association schedule 0-3 after being swept in a doubleheader with Delaware on Sunday. The Dragons fell in the first game 6-3, then let a 2-0 lead go by the wayside in a 3-2 loss in Game Two. Errors did the Dragons in both games, as only two of the nine runs Delaware scored were earned. Tara Konopka and Rose Portiolli pitched well in the losing efforts. Maddison Timoteo had three hits and scored a run in the first game, while Jess O'Hara went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored in the second.

In Game One, Konopka struck out two in the process of retiring the first six hitters she faced before Delaware struck for three runs in the third. They would add three more in the fourth on a bizarre play, as Blue Hen first baseman Marisa Newman hit a ball to the wall that Drexel center fielder Hanna Parrish had in her glove, only to have it pop out and over the fence. Ruled a four-base error, the de facto home run plated three Blue Hens and gave them a 6-0 cushion.

Drexel responded with two in its half of the fourth when Lara Horwitz hit the team's first triple of 2013, a fading line drive into the corner in right field, plating Jenn Reading and Timoteo. Although all that occured with no one out, the Dragons could not bring Horwitz home from third as she was stranded there three batters later.

The Dragons added a run in the fifth. Ellen Scott and Jill Popek got consecutive singles with one away. Then with two outs, Parrish roped a double to the gap in left-center field, scoring Scott and bringing Popek around to third. Down 6-3, Drexel could not get any closer as the inning ended with two in scoring position.

Game Two saw freshman Rose Portiolli make just her second collegiate start, and she pitched masterfully through the first five innings as Drexel took a 2-0 lead. Both runs were scored in the fourth, as Reading led off with a single. Pinch runner Bianca Iamurri moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Timoteo, and Jess O'Hara lined a single back up the middle to plate Iamurri with the game's first run. Ellen Scott then hit a grounder back to the pitcher, allowing O'Hara to move to second. WIth Popek at the plate, Delaware starter Amanda Stacevicz uncorked a wild pitch that rolled around by the backstop long enough for O'Hara to race around third and beat the throw to Stacevicz covering the plate, scoring Drexel's second run.

In the sixth inning, however, the Blue Hens came back to take the lead. Again, it was a Drexel error that fueled their inning as two of the three runs they scored were unearned. Drexel had a chance to tie it in the seventh after Comfort Ahonkhai led off by reaching second base on a throwing error by relief pitcher Chenxi Jiao, but after a sacrifice pushed her to third with one out, a pop out and a soft liner to shortstop ended the threat and gave Delaware the series sweep.

Drexel will return to the diamond on Wednesday when it heads to Bucknell for a doubleheader. First pitch of the first game is set for 3:00 p.m.