game one box score        game two box score 

The Wilkes University softball team snapped a three-game losing skid by sweeping Lycoming in a double-header in the Lady Colonels first home games of the season. Wilkes won the first game 6-0 before its offensive outburst in the second, winning 11-3 in six innings.

In the first game, Lindsay Behrenshausen (Mt. Holly Springs/Boiling Springs) pitched seven strong innings, giving up four hits in her first shutout of the season. The Lady Colonels pounded out eight hits, including a two-run homer by Erin Plank (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin East) in the fifth inning.

It took just two innings for the Lady Colonels to do their damage, scoring four in the fourth before Planks bomb in the fifth. Prior to the fourth inning, the Lady Colonels had just one hit. Gina Stefanelli (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Meyers) and MeLisa Bracone (Farmingville, N.Y./Sachem East) hit back-to-back singles to lead off the inning and both would later come around to score. Plank hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Stefanelli before Bracone crossed home plate on a fielder's choice by Alyssa Ciesla (Branchville, N.J./High Point).

Plank finished with three runs batted in on the day while all but one hitter picked up a hit in the opener. Behrenshausen tallied her first win of the season picking up six strikeouts while walking one.

In the second game, the Lady Colonels picked up nine more hits and took advantage of four errors as well as eight walks and a hit batter by the Warriors.

Wilkes opened the game with a single run in the bottom of the first when Bracone grounded out to second base scoring Katy Dalton, who doubled. Dalton would go 2-for-3 in the game with two runs scored and three RBI.

Two errors by the Warriors in the second as well as four hits led to four more runs for the Lady Colonels, including a two-run single by Dalton, scoring Colleen Labor (Aston, Pa./Sun Valley) and Cori Saltzer (Harrisburg/Central Dauphin East). Dalton would come around to score on an error off the bat of Stefanelli.

Wilkes would eventually explode for six runs in the sixth inning, ending the game because of the mercy rule. Lady Colonel starter Maureen Pelot (Kirkville, N.Y./Chittenango) went the distance, giving up two earned runs off six hits while striking out seven in the win. She is now 3-0 on the season.

Wilkes will remain at home Saturday when it hosts DeSales at 1 p.m. at Ralston Field to open Freedom Conference play.