Softball Sweeps UNCW Doubleheader for First Conference Wins

Saturday, April 27

Wilmington, N.C.

12:00 p.m.

Drexel University

14-32, 1-15

UNCW

15-33, 2-13

Drexel

UNCW

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Softball Sweeps UNCW Doubleheader for First Conference Wins

4/27/2013 4:50:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

WILMINGTON, N.C. - The Drexel softball team is on the board. The Dragons swept a doubleheader at UNC Wilmington on Saturday, earning their first and second Colonial Athletic Association victories of the season. Drexel won the first game 4-1 and the second 6-2 to clinch the three-game weekend series with the Seahawks.

Maggy Fermo had two hits, scored a run and drove in one in the first game, with freshman pitcher Tara Konopka allowing just two hits and an unearned run over six innings for the victory. Jill Popek had two hits and two runs batted in to lead the Dragons in Game Two, won by junior Shelby Taylor, who struck out five over her five innings of work.

In the first game, Drexel took a quick 1-0 lead with a run in the first inning. Hanna Parrish led off with a single up the middle and quickly stole second base. After Fermo grounded out to second, pushing Parrish to third, Taylor hit a hard grounder to third base that the Seahawks' third baseman could not handle. Parrish hesitated, then broke for the plate and scored when the ball trickled free.

UNCW got an unearned run in their half of the first to knot things back up. In the fourth, the Dragons took the lead back. Jess O'Hara led off by beating out a single to the right side of the infield. She stole second, then took third and home on a pair of wild pitches.

In the fifth, Fermo beat out a one-out single chopped right in front of home plate. She moved to second on a single by Taylor and to third on another wild pitch. Sylvia Llamas then brought her home with a single rolled through the right side of the infield. Drexel would tack on another insurance run in the sixth when Konopka singled and pinch runner Lara Horwitz scored on a Fermo double to left field.

Drexel had a chance to take the lead in Game Two in the third inning, but a play at the plate prevented the Dragons from getting a run across. In the fourth, though, the Dragons broke through for three. It started with one out when O'Hara struck out swinging, but the Seahawks' catcher could not handle the ball and O'Hara beat out the throw to first base. After Maddison Timoteo singled, Jill Popek stepped to the plate and ripped a double the opposite way to right field, plating O'Hara and moving Timoteo around to third. After an Ellen Scott walk and a Horwitz strike out loaded the bases with two outs, Parrish was hit by a pitch to force Timoteo home. Fermo then walked, bringing Popek plateward.

Wilmington got two of those runs back in the bottom of the fourth, but the Dragons responded with single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh. Popek drove in Llamas with a single in the fifth, and Taylor had a sacrifice fly that plated Parrish in the sixth. In the seventh, Timoteo doubled and pinch runner Bianca Iamurri scored on a single up the middle by Scott.

Drexel will go for the series sweep on Sunday, when the Dragons finish their series with UNCW with a single game at 12:00 p.m.