BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The top seed and No. 11 Moravian College softball team advanced to the championship round of the 2018 Landmark Conference Tournament being played at Blue & Grey Field with a 4-1 victory over second seed The University of Scranton in the winner's bracket game Friday afternoon.
The Greyhounds, now 31-5 on the year, recorded seven hits in the victory with junior center fielder Kat Spilman going 2-for-3. Freshman right fielder Brooke Wehr was 2-for-4 while senior first baseman Jean Markovic had a pair of RBIs and a double.
Senior pitcher Amanda Carisone improved to 15-3 in the circle with the win as she allowed a run on six hits and two walks to go with three strikeouts.
Scranton senior left fielder Kaitlyn Brogan was 2-for-3 in the contest while senior pitcher Morgan Rentzheimer allowed four runs, three earned, on seven hits and two walks to go with two strikeouts.
The Greyhounds jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Wehr led off with a single and moved to second on a one-out single by Spilman. Senior catcher Janae Matos followed with an RBI single up the middle to score Wehr, and Spilman raced home on a shallow sacrifice fly by Markovic.
Scranton got on the scoreboard with a run in the top of the third inning to cut the Hounds' advantage to 2-1 when sophomore first baseman Anna Price hit an RBI ground out to score Brogan, who had started the frame with a single.
Moravian would get the run back in the bottom of the fourth inning when Wehr connected on a two-out RBI single that chase sophomore left fielder Emily Stanilious across the plate from a second base for a 3-1 edge.
The Blue and Grey tacked on another run in the bottom of the fifth for a 4-1 advantage. Spilman led off with a double and scored on an RBI double from Markovic.
The Greyhounds will play in the championship round, slated for a 2:00 p.m. start on Saturday against the winner of the final elimination game. Scranton will be in that elimination contest at noon on Saturday and play the winner of the first elimination game between third seed Susquehanna University and fourth seed The Catholic University of America, which is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m.
