BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Bloomsburg softball team boosted their playoff chances on Tuesday afternoon, coming away with a win in their doubleheader with second-seeded East Stroudsburg.
Coming off a tough weekend of matchups with conference-leading West Chester and three-seeded Kutztown, the Huskies needed a bounce back performance in any way possible to make a late playoff push.
The opening match of the day saw the Warriors of East Stroudsburg put on a clinic defensively, holding the Huskies scoreless through four innings.
Bloomsburg did make a late push, putting up three runs in the fifth on a double from
Taylor Kranzley (Northampton, Pa./Northampton). Kranzley had a solid game offensively, going 3-for-4 in her at-bats on top of the double that earned her three RBIs on the contest.
Kayleigh Lenner (Sunbury, Pa./Shikellamy) earned the Huskies final RBI of the day in the sixth inning, bringing the final score to 7-4 as Bloomsburg opened the day with a tough loss.
The second contest of the day was much more thrilling for the home team, as the Huskies finished the contest with eight runs on 13 hits.
East Stroudsburg put one run up early in the first inning before they were shutout for the rest of the contest.
It was a day for doubles for the Huskies as their first runs of the day came on consecutive doubles from Kranzley and
Alex Iseminger (Everett, Pa./Everett Area). In the bottom of the fourth and with a runner on base, Kranzley doubled to right field, putting the Huskies in scoring position. The very next play, Iseminger aired out a double to right center to put Bloomsburg up 2-1 and get the offense rolling.
The Huskies' biggest inning of the day came in the sixth. Up 3-1 to start the inning, Bloomsburg blew the game wide open with five runs. Iseminger got the ball rolling, leading off the inning with a clutch homer to left field. Iseminger finished the game 2-for-3 with a double on top of her homer.
Faith Persing (Montgomery, Pa./Montgomery) kept the ball rolling a few plays later on an RBI-single, setting up Lenner and
Bella Culp (Harrisburg, Pa/Central Dauphin) for clutch triples on back-to-back plays to put the Huskies up 7-1.
Emma Little (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn-Trafford) would close out the Husky offense on an RBI-single as Bloomsburg took game two in thrilling fashion.
Lyndsey Reinoehl (Shenandoah Heights, Pa./Marian Catholic) earned her second win of the season on the mound, holding the Warriors to a single run and only four hits on the contest.
The Bloomsburg softball hits the field again later this week as they travel to Lock Haven for another conference doubleheader. The matchup, originally set for Friday, has been moved up to Thursday, April 27th due to predicted inclement weather. Opening game is set to start at 2:00 PM.
