BOX SCORE (Game 1)
BOX SCORE (Game 2)
Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (May 3, 2008) – Before a pitch was thrown this season the DeSales University softball team was picked to finish last in the Freedom Conference pre-season poll and as the last pitch was tossed in the Freedom Conference playoffs on Saturday afternoon the Bulldogs have done the unthinkable going from worst in the pre-season poll to Freedom Conference champions with a convincing 11-0 win over Delaware Valley College in the championship game on Saturday afternoon.
DeSales (27-13 overall) will now continue its season, earning the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, and will await its first round regional opponent and site which will be announced on Monday morning. DSU advanced to Saturday's title game with two wins on Friday and needed to beat its eventual opponent, Delaware Valley College, just once to take home the title. The Aggies (18-19 overall) needed to defeat the Bulldogs twice and were up the challenge in game one, winning 2-1, but the DSU bats came alive in the second game scoring three times in the second, twice in the third and six times in the fifth to break it open and give DeSales its first-ever Freedom Conference championship.
In the championship game opener, the Aggies held the high powered Bulldog offense to just six hits and one run as they squeezed out a 2-1 win. DVC scored single runs in the third and fifth innings to take a 2-0 lead before the Bulldogs cut the lead in half with a run in the sixth on an RBI single from junior Amanda Kensecki (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty) after sophomore Kerri Andrews (Bethlehem, PA/Bethlehem Catholic) had doubled with two out. DeSales left two runners on-base in the inning and then stranded a lead-off single in the seventh as Delaware Valley forced a winner take all championship game.
Freshman Jen Lococo (Easton, PA/Freedom) pitched well despite taking the loss scattering seven hits and allowing two runs, while striking out three. Kensecki was the lone Bulldog totaling double digit hits with two in game one.
The second game was all DeSales as they escaped first inning trouble in the field. The Aggies had runners on second and third with one out but were unable to score and the Bulldogs countered with three runs in the top of the second to take a 3-0 lead. Freshman Kate Steiner (Walnutport, PA/Northampton) got DSU on the board with a solo home run and junior Maddie Roxandich (Bethlehem, PA/Bethlehem Catholic) made it 3-0 with a two-out, two-run double to right center to end the rally.
The Bulldogs added two runs in the third as Steiner connected for her second dinger of the game and the seventh of the season, a two-run shot to left center and DeSales left no doubt in the outcome in the fifth when they crossed home plate six times to build an 11-0 lead and eventually the championship.
In the sixth, Lococo started things with a two-out, two-RBI single scoring Andrews and junior Kelly Moran (Bethlehem, PA/Bethlehem Catholic). Junior Jamie Pfitzenmayer (Annandale, NJ/Hunterdon Central) blasted a three-run home run plating Lococo and fellow freshman Meghan Callahan (Franklin Square, NY/H. Frank Carey) and Roxandich followed the Pfitzenmayer blast with a solo shot to center field for her first homer of the season. All six runs in the sixth came with two outs.
Freshman Larissa Tenley (Sinking Spring, PA/Conrad Weiser) earned the win, her sixth of the season, pitching brilliantly out of the bullpen. She totaled 4.2 innings allowing just two hits and no runs to lower her season ERA to 3.12. Roxandich was 2-for-4 with three RBI's, Andrews finished with three hits and a run scored, Lococo had one hit and two RBI's, Callahan scored twice and Pfitzenmayer was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and three RBI's. Steiner earned Most Valuable Player honors going 2-for-3 in the championship game with two runs scored and three RBI's.
