Greyhounds Homer 3 Times; Eliminate Misericordia, 11-2, at NCAA Regional
UNION, N.J. --- The second seeded Moravian College softball team avoided elimination at the 2012 NCAA Division III Tournament Union, N.J. Regional Tournament with three home runs in an 11-2, six-inning win over sixth seed Misericordia University Friday afternoon at Kean University.
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UNION, N.J. --- The second seeded Moravian College softball team avoided elimination at the 2012 NCAA Division III Tournament Union, N.J. Regional Tournament with three home runs in an 11-2, six-inning win over sixth seed Misericordia University Friday afternoon at Kean University.
The Greyhounds, playing the second elimination game of the tournament, advance to another elimination game on Saturday, May 12 at 10:00 a.m. versus fourth seed The College of New Jersey, which dropped its winner's bracket game Friday. Moravian, which improves to 33-10 on the year, also avoided going two-and-out in the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in 14 trips to the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars end their 2012 season at 28-17.
Misericordia jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Junior first baseman Amanda Polaha tripled with one out down the right field line that fell in front of Moravian sophomore outfielder Miranda Sergas and rolled into the corner. Junior pitcher Caitlin Cromley followed with an RBI single to left field to score Polaha, and freshman third baseman Kristi Seiler then hit a single to put runners on the corners. After a pitching change and a strikeout by Greyhounds' senior pitcher Jenna Carmon, the Cougars would get Cromley across the plate when junior designated player Kat LaBrie reached on an error.
Moravian answered with three runs in the top of the second inning to move ahead, 3-2. Sophomore catcher Cassie Ernst led off the inning with a line drive solo home run to left center field, her seventh homer of the season. Junior first baseman Amanda Dizinno singled but would be out at second on a fielder's choice by junior designated player/pitcher Alyssa Fegely. Junior third baseman Shannen Mohr hit the first pitch of her at-bat on a line drive over the left centerfield fence to a two-run homer, her second home run of the season. The two RBIs also gave Mohr 100 RBIs in her career, just the fifth player in school history to reach the milestone.
The Cougars threatened in the bottom of the third inning with two runners on base before Carmon got a strikeout and a ground out to end the inning.
The Greyhounds would extend their lead to 6-2 in the top of the fourth inning with three more runs. Fegely singled over the second baseman's head with one out, and Mohr followed with a single up the middle. Sophomore outfielder Taylor Mihalik then connected on an 0-2 pitch and sent it over the right centerfield fence for a three-run homer, her sixth homer of year. The homer was Moravian's 30th of the season as the squad surpassed the previous school record of 26.
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Moravian scored three more runs in the top of the fifth inning to extend the lead to 9-2. Sergas led off with a walk and moved in scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Carmon. Ernst followed with an RBI double to right centerfield sending Sergas home for a 7-2 lead. Dizinno connected on the first pitch she saw for an RBI single up the middle to chase Ernst across the plate. Fegely singled again, and Misericordia would then bring sophomore Jess Armillay in to the circle. An illegal pitch would bring Fegely home, and Mohr followed with a walk. Misericordia would get two outs to finally get out of the inning.
In the bottom half of the fifth, Cromley singled with two outs for her third hit of the game for the Cougars but she would be stranded at first.
The Greyhounds pushed their advantage to 11-2 with two more runs in the top of the sixth. George walked to lead off the top of the sixth for the Greyhounds, and she moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Sergas. Carmon then ripped an RBI single to left field as Cromley's throw to the plate was wide and let George score. Ernst followed with her third extra-base hit, an RBI double to right centerfield to score Carmon.
Moravian finished the game with a 12-7 advantage in hits with Ernst leading the Greyhounds with a three-for-four performance that included three extra-base hits and three RBIs. Mohr was two-for-for-two for Moravian with her go ahead homer in the second inning while Fegely was two-for-three and Dizinno was two-for-four. Cromley was three-for-three to lead Misericordia while Seiler went two-for-three.
Carmon earned her 20th win of the season in the circle for Moravian, allowing four hits and striking out five batters in 5.2 innings. It is the second time in Carmon's career she has recorded 20 wins in a season, and she has a career mark of 73-22. Fegely tossed the first third of an inning with two runs, one earned, on three hits.
Cromley took the loss for the Cougars after giving up nine runs on ten hits and two walks to go with three strikeouts. Armillay tossed the final 1.2 innings with two runs on two hits and two walks, and she struck out one batter.
