MYRTLE BEACH, SC. – The Delaware Valley University softball team finished its spring break trip to Myrtle Beach in the fashion of a two-game sweep to take a 5-1 record back to Doylestown. The Aggies walked off in the eighth inning with a thrilling 2-1 win over Rosemont College to start the day and used a 7-2 triumph over Eastern Nazarene College to bookend the trip.
The five wins in six games is the best start for the program in 12 seasons, dating back to 2012 when assistant coach Erin Barinyak (Fox) was a senior and the Aggies went 7-1 during their spring break trip to Florida.
The final day of this year's trip began with first-year Madison Karns taking the circle against Cheyenne Willoughby for the Ravens.
Rosemont scored first with three hits in the second inning including a double by Bailee Greise and an RBI single from Riley Kofolo.
It remained a 1-0 game into the seventh inning as Willoughby and Alicia Gotts combined to hold the Aggies without a hit for six innings.
With one out in the bottom of the seventh, DelVal sophomore Kathleen McGeoy got on base via an error and stole second as she slid to the outside corner of the bag to avoid the tag. Junior Sierra Ripka followed with a single up the middle and McGeoy came around to score and tie the game at 1-1. A double play ended the inning and the game went to extras.
With the international tiebreaker rule in effect, Karns and the Aggies retired Rosemont in order and the offense went back to work. Kenzie Boyd was the runner on second to start the inning and Tori Bockrath led off with an infield single. Two batters later, sophomore Madison Donnelly put the ball in play and an error by the shortstop allowed Boyd to race home for the 2-1 win.
Karns allowed her first run of the season in this game, but that was all she surrendered as she struck out five and allowed eight hits and two walks in eight innings. Bockrath and Ripka had the team's only hits of the game, and Ripka and Donnelly each had an RBI.
Willoughby allowed no hits for 5.2 innings for the Ravens, but she did walk six batters and faced 24 batters. Begg led Rosemont with two hits.
In the third inning of game two of the day, Boyd moved Jillian Collins and Ripka to third and second base. They were then driven in thanks to an Angelina Bresnen double to center field. The next at-bat, Amelia Funston single to left sending Bresnen home. Before the inning ended, Donnelly reached on a fielder choice and was eventually brought home by an Isabella Davis single making the score 4-0.
Eastern Nazarene scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth, but only one was earned.
Trista Hershey hit for Yasmine Gonzalez in the sixth and walked, followed by a Collins single. The two runners moved up a base and Boyd cracked a single to left driving in Hershey. Up next Bresnen signled to the outfield to score Collins holding the Aggies four-run advantage.
The final run came in the seventh after Donnelly singled up the middle and a Tori Bockrath single in the next at-bat drove her in. Boyd threw all seven frames to earn her second win of the season, giving up only five hits and one earned run.
Up next for DelVal softball is their home opener on Saturday, March 16 taking on DeSales University at 1/3 p.m.
