COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. --- Senior center fielder Dior George became the second softball player in Moravian College history to reach 200 career hits as she helped lead the Greyhounds to a doubleheader sweep at Ursinus College, 2-1 in eight innings and 7-1, in non-conference action Tuesday afternoon as the Hounds extended their winning streak to 15 to finish the regular season.
Moravian finishes the regular season at 30-4, the program's 16th 30-win season, all of which have come under 22-year Head Coach John Byrne, who improved his career mark to 705-217.
The opener saw each team collect five hits, and the game was scoreless through the regulation seven innings.
The Hounds started the eighth with George at second base because of the international tiebreaker. Junior right fielder Mary Schlosbon put down a sacrifice bunt to move George to third, and then senior Jenn Dalickas came in to pinch hit. Dalickas drew a walk, extending her school season record to 37 base on balls this spring and tying Shannen Mohr '13 for a school career mark of 74 walks. Sophomore shortstop Madison Newhouser came back into the game to run for Dalickas, and Newhouser stole second base to put a pair of runners in scoring position. After an out, senior second baseman Lizzie Mack ripped a two-RBI single through the left side just out of the reach of a diving Ursinus shortstop as George and Newhouser raced home for a 2-0 lead.
Ursinus also started the eighth with a runner at second base, and the Bears would score a run to cut the Moravian lead in half. However, Ursinus would strand runners and second and third to end the game.
Greyhound freshman Josie Novak improved to 14-3 in the circle as she allowed an unearned run on five hits and a walk to go with eight strikeouts as she moved into eighth in school history in a single season with 133 strikeouts this spring. The run Novak allowed in the eighth was her first in 23 innings.
The Blue & Grey would connect for 11 hits in the second game with sophomore third baseman Victoria Conner going 3-for-4 and George adding a 2-for-4 performance.
The Hounds took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when George reached on an error to start the game and scored on another error on a ground ball hit by Newhouser.
The Bears tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the first inning but that would be the only run freshman Amanda Carisone allowed as she gave up seven hits and a walk to go with six strikeouts as she improved to 16-1 in the circle with her 16th straight win. Carisone is now tied for tenth in wins in a season in the Moravian record books, and she has 90 strikeouts in her debut season.
The Greyhounds retook the lead with a run in the top of the third inning. Newhouser led off with a single and eventually scored on an RBI ground out by Mack.
Moravian added four runs in the top of the fifth inning for a 6-1 advantage. Sophomore left fielder Julie Siragusa led off with an inside-the-park home run to right field, her first career homer. Conner connected on an RBI double to score Mack, who had reached on an error, while sophomore pinch hitter Abby Jeffries followed with an RBI double. George finished off the inning with an RBI single as Jeffries scored.
The Blue & Grey finished off the scoring in the top of the seventh inning with one final run. Conner led off with a single before freshman Jackie Marshall came in to pinch run. Two batters later, George came up and ripped an RBI single to center field for her 200th career hit that scored Marshall. George joins Heather Bortz '05 as the only two players to reach 200 career hits with Bortz holding the record with 253 hits.
Moravian will begin its 21st consecutive postseason appearance on Friday, May 2 when the second seeded Greyhounds will play third seed The Catholic University of America at 1:00 p.m. in the second game of the 2015 Landmark Conference Tournament at top seed Susquehanna University.
