READING, PA (March 27, 2011) - The Penn State Berks softball team saw its North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) record even up at 2-2 on Sunday afternoon after Wilson College snagged a pair of wins at Hintz Athletic Field.
Berks kept close through the first five innings of the first game, but the Phoenix pulled away with eight runs in the final two frames to win 15-5. The nightcap was a nail biter that ended with Wilson prevailing 5-4 to earn the sweep.
In the opener, Brittany Hicks singled in a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth. Dayna Harrison followed with a single to right, scoring Hicks and pulling the Lions within two runs of Wilson. That is as close at Berks could get with the Phoenix plating five runs in the sixth and three more in the seventh.
The single by Hicks in the fifth gave the senior utility player the 100th of her career. She added another hit in the second game to place her in second place all-time at Berks, trailing just Ashley Warner (104).
Shari Lynn Kluth went 3-for-4 with two runs scored in the second game, while Marissa Ruggiero had two hits and two runs batted in.
Devon Denker scattered five hits over five-plus innings of work. She surrendered five runs – three earned – and struck out three. Freshman Casey Hafer allowed two hits and no runs over the final two innings. She recorded two strikeouts.
The Lions evened the game at 3-all with back-to-back RBIs from Hicks and Harrison in the third. The Phoenix responded with a run in the fourth and the Lions knotted the game again in the fifth. Wilson went right back to work in the sixth to get the decisive run on a single by Erin Nickell.
The Nittany Lions will host Penn State Harrisburg on Wednesday, March 30 in an NEAC doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m.
Â