BOX SCORE vs. Misericordia
BOX SCORE vs. Bethany (game 1)
BOX SCORE vs. Bethany (game 2)
Bethany, WV (May 16, 2010) – It wasn't the easiest path to winning a title but it was equally as effective as the DeSales University softball won three games on Sunday afternoon from the loser's bracket, including two wins over host and #1 seed Bethany College, to claim the Bulldogs' first-ever ECAC South Region Championship in their first-ever appearance ending the season with a school-record 29 wins.
The Bulldogs win one more game (29) this season than the 2008 team did after they won the Freedom Conference title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. DSU set numerous individual season and career records which will be mentioned below as well as several team records this season.
The day began with DSU knowing it would need to win three games to earn the championship. The Bulldogs started their day against a familiar foe, Misericordia University, whom they would meet for the sixth time this season and would eventually earn a fifth win over, defeating the Cougars, 3-2, to advance to the title game where it would need to defeat Bethany twice in the double elimination tournament.
In the win over Misericordia, sophomore Christine Petrilla (Hamilton, NJ/Steinert) earned the win, her seventh of the year, in just her fifth start of the season, tossing her third complete-game of the year. She scattered seven hits and allowed just two runs.
Senior Kyra Monarek (Allentown, PA/Parkland) scored the first run on a throwing error by the Cougar catcher, junior Jen Lococo (Easton, PA/Freedom) drove in senior Kerri Andrews (Bethlehem, PA/Bethlehem Catholic) with the second run and junior Kristin Schultz (Laurys Station, PA/Parkland) scored on an RBI bunt from sophomore Brianna Chilcoat (Northampton, PA/Northampton) with the eventual winning run in the fourth inning. Lococo and Schultz each had two hits in the win.
In the second game of the day, DSU needed to defeat the top seed, Bethany College, to force a final game for all the marbles. The Bulldogs were up to the task despite falling beind 4-1 in the game, scoring twice in the fifth inning and four more times in the sixth to earn a 7-4 win.
Petrilla got DSU on the board in the first with an RBI single plating Andrews. The Bulldogs chipped away at the three-run deficit in the fifth when Steiner and Lococo hit back-to-back solo home runs and DeSales took control of the game in the sixth, scoring four runs, all of which were unearned.
An error by the BC shortstop put sophomore Shelly McCarthy (Allentown, PA/Bethlehem Catholic) on base. Consecutive fielder's choice sacrifice bunts that saw no out recorded loaded the bases and after McCarthy was forced out at home on a ground ball, Andrews stepped to the plate and laced a double to left-center plating two runs, giving DSU a 5-4 lead, and giving Andrews the all-time record in hits with her 170th career base hit. Andrews came around to score a few batters later on another Bethany error and Petrilla plated the seventh run with her second RBI single of the game.
Lococo did the rest in the circle earning her 12th win of the season, scattering seven hits and striking out five. Andrews had two hits, two runs scored, and two RBIs, Steiner had two hits and two runs scored, and Petrilla had three hits and two RBIs.
The first win over Bethany forced a final winner take all game to crown the tournament champion and the Bulldogs were not to be denied.
Lococo was the story, taking the ball in the circle for the second straight game and tossing what is perhaps the most impressive game of her three-year career, a one-hit shutout over the Bison as the Bulldogs took the Tournament title by a 2-0 score.
Bethany did not have a runner reach second base until the fifth inning with two outs and Lococo pitched out of the only serious jam in the sixth after a walk and her own error put runners on first and second with no one out, but a fielder's choice and line drive double play to shortstop ended the threat.
Steiner got DSU the only run it ended up needing in the third frame with a solo home run, her seventh round-tripper of the season, and the Bulldogs added an insurance tally in the seventh when, who else, but Lococo doubled home Steiner.
Lococo won her 13th game of the season and took home Most Valuable Player honors as DSU claimed its first-ever ECAC South Region Title. Monarek and sophomore Sharon Yudt (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) each had two hits in the championship game win over Bethany.
The win wraps up a historic season in terms of records being broken for the softball team. As mentioned DSU won a school-record 29 games and also set the team record for doubles in a year (83), home runs in a season (29), and highest fielding percentage in one campaign (.960). DeSales also played the longest game in the program's history, 12 innings, and had so much fun doing it once, it decided to play two 12-inning games within three days of each other.
Individually, Kerri Andrews almost single-handedly re-wrote the DeSales record book with her bat. She set a single-season record in runs scored (46) and hits (66) this season and finishes her career as the all-time record holder in career hits (171), runs scored (112), and doubles (39), while also being ranked among the top 10 in almost every other offensive category in DeSales history.
Kate Steiner and Jen Lococo each have one year left but will both be chasing several records next season as Steiner moves into second place all-time with 17 career home runs and is among the top five in RBIs with 84. Lococo broke the single-season record for home runs (10) and RBIs (43) with her bat and tossed a single-game record 12 innings in one of DSU's 12-inning marathons. In her career Lococo is now ranked second all-time with 35 career wins and is second all-time in RBI's with 92, just five shy of the all-time leader, a record surely to be broken early next season by both Lococo and Steiner.
Christine Petrilla broke the school-record for doubles in a season with 18, a record that had been 13, which was also bested by Andrews who had 17 doubles and Lococo who had 15 doubles this year. Senior Kristen Cybularz (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Carroll) broke the single-season mark with 12 total sacrifices this year, Steiner had a single-season record 119 assists this year, breaking her own record set last season, and Petrilla had a season-best 21 relief appearances in the circle.
Sophomore Katie Morrissey (Lanoka Harbor, NJ/Lacey Township) is in position with two more good years as a pitcher to break a record that at one time seemed impossible to even consider. DSU Hall of Famer Jamie Bicking has a school-record 573 career strikeouts, a record that most people consider impossible to ever break, but Morrissey has 263 strikeouts thru two years and with some good health and two more solid years, Morrissey has a legitimate chance to challenge Bicking's record. Lococo and Morrissey both have 200+ strikeouts in their careers, making them two of just three pitchers (Bicking) to achieve that feat.
