ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- The Moravian College softball team needed extra innings in the first game but went on to sweep host Elizabethtown College, 3-2 in nine innings and 6-2, in the first Landmark Conference meeting between the two schools as the Greyhounds ran their winning streak to 11 games.
The Greyhounds, now 17-5 overall and 4-2 in Landmark action, and the Blue Jays were former conference rivals in the Commonwealth Conference before the Hounds left for the Landmark Conference in 2007-08. Elizabethtown is now joining the Landmark, this spring in softball and women's lacrosse and as a full member on July 1.
In the opener, Moravian jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Sophomore left fielder Mary Schlosbon singled with one out and would cross the plate on an error by the Blue jays on a ball hit by junior pitcher Lizzie Mack. Mack eventually came in to score when senior outfielder Taylor Mihalik hit an RBI ground out.
Elizabethtown would tie the score with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the fourth, and after that, neither team would score until the ninth inning despite the Hounds leaving six runners on base in the game and eight left on base for the Blue Jays.
Moravian broke up the tie in the ninth. Junior first baseman Jenn Dalickas hit a one-out single, and she moved to third on a single by senior right fielder Miranda Sergas. Freshman Lizzie Deutsch came on to pinch run for Dalickas, and crossed the plate with the eventual winning run on an RBI single by senior designated player Cassie Ernst.
The Hounds had a 6-5 edge in hits in the opener with Schlosbon going 2-for-4 at the plate.
Mack tossed the first 3.1 innings with two unearned runs on two hits and three walks to go with one strikeout. Sophomore Carsin Conner picked up her second win of the season in the circle with 5.2 innings of relief with three hits, two walks and three strikeouts.
Moravian jumped out to another early lead in the second game with three runs in the top of the second. Dalickas led off with a double and Mihalik put down a bunt single to put runners on the corners. After an out, senior pitcher Elizabeth Tillou connected on a three-run homer to left field. The dinger was the first of Tillou's career and it also gave each of the eight members of the Greyhounds' senior class at least one home run in their careers including four going long for the first time in their four-years at Moravian this spring.
Elizabethtown scored a run in the bottom half of the fourth but it didn't take the Hounds long to get the run back. In the top of the fifth, Schlosbon tripled with one out and scored on an RBI single by Ernst.
Moravian added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the seventh inning for a 6-2 lead. Schlosbon singled with one out and would come around to score on a two-out, two-run homer by Dalickas, her team-leading sixth round-tripper of the year.
The Greyhounds would be happy they scored those two runs in the seventh as the Blue Jays scored once in the seventh and had the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate when Conner struck out the final batter of the game to preserve the sweep.
Moravian had a 10-4 advantage in hits in the second game with Schlosbon and Dalickas each going 3-for-4. Tillou was 2-for-2 in the contest.
In the circle, Tillou improved to 6-2 on the season, allowing two runs, one earned, on four this and three walks to go with two strikeouts in 6.1 innings of action. Conner tossed the final two outs and gave up a hit and a walk before the strikeout to end the game.
The Hounds will get right back on the field as the squad hosts Ursinus College in a non-conference doubleheader at Blue & Grey Field on Sunday, April 13 beginning at 1:00 p.m.
