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Immaculata 5, Gwynedd-Mercy 4
Immaculata 7, Gwynedd-Mercy 4
BOX SCORE Game 1 | BOX SCORE Game 2
GWYNEDD VALLEY, PA. -- The Gwynedd-Mercy Softball Team capped its regular season on Saturday with two losses to Immaculata as the Mighty Macs spoiled the Griffins' Senior Day.
Gwynedd (18-14, 16-6 CSAC) have now clinched the #4 playoff seed and will host a first-round game on Wednesday, May 1st against #5 Marywood. The winner will advance to the double-elimination tournament at Neumann on Saturday.
Prior to both games, the team took time to honor
Kelsey Craig (Boothwyn, Pa./Chichester), the squad's lone senior, along with her family.
In game one, the Griffins stung early, getting three runs on three hits. Freshman
Kelsey McDonough (Philadelphia, Pa./Little Flower) drove in two with her RBI single to center. Sophomore
Jennifer Whalen (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) would earlier score from third on a double steal.
Immaculata's Melissa Ejk hit a two-out RBI double in the third to put the Mighty Macs (22-16, 18-4 CSAC) on the board. Back-to-back errors with two outs in the fifth led to another IU run to make it 3-2.
They would take the lead in the sixth on a pair of RBI singles. Gwynedd would tie it in the bottom half and look for more. McDonough drove in her third run of the day, this time with a triple, to knot it at 4-4. After a hit by pitch and move up on a stolen base, the Griffins had runners in scoring position with no outs. IU starter Meagan Fitzgerald got out of the jam with a pop up and consecutive strikeouts.
Immaculata took the lead in the seventh on the Griffin's fourth error on the day. With a runner at second with two outs, IU's Danielle Palmisano hit a routine grounder to third, Whalen's throw was in time to get the batter, but as the runner broke for third, McDonough's throw to third was high which allowed the go-ahead run to score.
McDonough and Whalen each had two hits. Whalen, who also added a triple in the second, stole two bases. GM starter
Ashley Lamont (Hillsborough, N.J./Hillsborough) gave up three earned runs on eight hits with two walks and six strikeouts.
Fitzgerald fanned nine on six hits and four runs. Ejk was 3-for-3 at the plate.
In game two, it was the Mighty Macs scoring first, plating four in the third on just two hits and two Griffin errors. Gwynedd looked to answer in the bottom half, getting the sacks full with one out, but were unable to score.
GM would eventually chip away, getting a run in the fourth on
Ave Bolli's (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) RBI groundout to score McDonough who had earlier tripled. In the fifth,
Megan Kelly (Ivyland, Pa./Little Flower) drove in
Kaitlyn Johnson (Milford, N.J./Delaware Valley) to make it 4-2. On the next batter, a single to right from junior
Stephanie Farrar (North Wales, Pa./North Penn), Kelly would try to score from second, but was thrown out at the plate. Farrar would come around to score on a dropped fly in right off the bat of Lamont. With Lamont on first and two outs, McDonough was next to single, but Lamont, trying to get to third was thrown out as well to end the inning.
IU would add some insurance runs in the sixth with five hits highlighted by Jenny Barnholt's two-run single.
Johnson took the loss, going for four earned runs on nine hits with four K's and five walks. Farrar and McDonough each notched two hits.
