DOYLESTOWN (Pa.) – The Delaware Valley University softball team opened the 2021 season at Widener University on Sunday afternoon and earned first-year head coach Jamie Stefani her first career victory in a non-conference double-header split.
The Aggies won the opener in come-from-behind fashion with a six-run third inning and a solo home run from Megan Torrey in the sixth to seal a 7-5 victory. The Pride took the night-cap as they held the Green and Gold to one run in a 4-1 win.
DelVal fell behind, 2-0, early in game one as Widener got its first two hitters on base and both came around to score after a three-hit inning. The Pride tacked on two more in the bottom of the second when Carli Benozich singled to left and plated two unearned runs.
The Aggies responded in the top of the third as the offense exploded for six runs on five hits, including four doubles, as they batted around the lineup. Torrey started the rally with a one-out double and fellow sophomore Jessica Stewart drove her in with a double of her own. Olivia Monismith drew a walk, and first-year Madison McClary picked up her first-career RBI with a single to score Stewart and make it 4-2 with one out and runners on second and third. Fellow rookie Alexis Langenfelder came up next and earned her first-career hit and RBI with a single that plated Monismith.
McClary came around to score on a wild pitch and later in the inning junior Adina Brucie laced a double to center field that scored two and gave the Aggies a 6-4 lead going into the bottom of the third.
The Pride had runners on second and third with no outs in the home half of the third and cut the deficit in half with a Hope DiMario single that scored Becca Tiley and made it 6-5. The Aggies defense caught a runner stealing and ended the threat to maintain the lead.
Monismith, DelVal's starting pitcher for the season opener, put out 12 of the next 13 batters she faced with one walk, and Torrey added her first collegiate home run, to seal the 7-5 win in game one.
Monismith pitched a complete game with six strikeouts, seven hits, three earned runs, and one walk allowed. Torrey was 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored and Stewart had two hits, a walk, an RBI, and a run scored.
The Pride struck early again in game two when Benozich drove in another run on an infield single in the first inning. However, the Aggies answered in the next frame as Monismith hit her second career home run over the center field fence to tie the game at 1-1.
Widener added one more in the third and two in the sixth and it held DelVal to just one hit over the final five frames on its way to salvaging the second half of the double header by way of 4-1 win.
Langenfelder pitched a complete game for the Aggies and the rookie allowed just four hits, two earned runs and three walks while striking out six. The Pride's Mikayla Fedele got the win with four innings pitched and three hits allowed and Kait Jaworski earned the save by striking out six of the 10 batters she faced in just three innings of work.
Offensively in game two, first-year Makenna Cooper got her first career hit with an infield single to third base in the top of the third.
