INDIANA, Pa. – The Huskies scored six runs in the top of the sixth as the Bloomsburg University softball team defeated IUP, 11-0, Wednesday afternoon. The second game of the scheduled doubleheader was canceled due to the weather.
The Huskies set the tone early with four runs in the top of the first. With bases loaded,
Kayleigh Lenner (Sunbury, Pa./Shikellamy) came home on a passed ball for the game's first run.
Erin DelPierre (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) walked to re-load the bases before
Danielle Barnes (Coopersburg, Pa./Southern Lehigh) grounded out to second but brought home
Nicolette Ray (Abington, Pa./Abington). Back-to-back errors by IUP infielders brought the next two runs home for Bloomsburg as the Huskies extended their lead to 4-0 after the first half of the inning.
Callie Sowers (Irwin, Pa/Hempfield Area) tossed a 1-2-3 inning before the Huskies tacked on one more run in the second. Ray continued to swing a hot bat as she sent a home run over the right-center fence.
In the bottom of the second, Jenne Rhue was the first base runner for IUP as she led off the frame with a double to right-center, but Sowers tossed three-straight strikeouts to work around the runner in scoring position.
Both teams had a hit in their half of the third and were held scoreless in the third, fourth, and fifth innings before the Huskies broke open the game in the sixth.
With Lenner and
Emma Little (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn-Trafford) in scoring position,
Sammi Starr (Berwick, Pa./Berwick Area) laced a single through the right side that allowed Little to trot home.
Alex Iseminger (Everett, Pa./Everett Area) pushed the Huskies' lead to 9-0 with one swing of the bat as she sent the ball over the left-center fence with Starr and Lenner on base. DelPierre then walked before Barnes reached on another error on the infield.
Bella Culp (Harrisburg, Pa/Central Dauphin) drew a walk to load the bases before Little collected a pair of RBI with a single up the middle that brought hoe Barnes and DelPierre.
The Huskies led 11-0 after five and a half innings.
IUP led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk before the next two batters struck out swinging to put Sowers one out away from the win. Megan Fitzgerald doubled to left-center to put two in scoring position before Sowers got Lexi Dawson swinging to close out the game.
Sowers improved to 12-6 with the complete game shut out for the year. She went the full 6.0 innings and did not allow a run on just three hits. Sowers walked three and struck out 10 batters.
Iseminger led the Huskies at the plate as she went 3-for-4 with two runs and three RBI, while Starr, Ray, and Little all had a pair of hits. Ray and Iseminger both hit a home run for Bloomsburg.
The Huskies travel to Millersville University on Friday to kick off the final weekend of the regular season. Bloomsburg and the Marauders square off on Friday at 2:30 PM before playing at home for the last time in 2022 against East Stroudsburg. The first pitch of the doubleheader against the Warriors is scheduled for 1:00 PM.
