game one   game two  

READING – The Wilkes University softball team's playoff hopes are still alive, but the Lady Colonels will have to go through King's to make it. Wilkes split with Alvernia, winning the first game 6-2 before falling in the second 7-3. The Lady Colonels will now host King's on Tuesday for a right to play in the Freedom Conference Championship.

Wilkes pounded out 12 hits in the first game, including a 3-for-3 performance from Cori Saltzer (Harrisburg/Central Dauphin East), while Amanda Holston (Georgetown, Del./Sussex Central) and Gina Stefanelli (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Meyers) picked up two each.

Four runs in the top of the first inning for Wilkes was the difference in the game as the Crusaders were never able to recover. Kathy Dalton (Neptune, N.J./St. Rose) started the scoring with an RBI single to plate MeLisa Bracone (Farmingville, N.Y./Sachem East), while Erin Plank (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin East) hit a two-run double to score Dalton and Stefanelli. Saltzer joined the hit parade with an RBI double to bring around Plank.

Alvernia answered with a run in the bottom of the fist, but runs in the fourth and fifth inning by the Lady Colonels was more than enough for Lindsay Behrenshausen (Mt. Holly Springs/Boiling Springs), who tossed a complete game where she have up one earned run off five hits.

In the second game, the Lady Colonels opened with two runs in the first inning off three hits, headlined by a run scoring double by Dalton. She would go 2-for-4 in the game with an RBI and a run scored.

Wilkes would keep the lead until the Crusaders tied the game in the third with a run before scoring two more in the fourth to take the lead for good. Alvernia would put the game out of reach with four runs in the sixth off four hits. The Crusaders would finish with 10 hits while Wilkes had eight with Colleen Labor (Aston, Pa./Sun Valley) picking up two as well.

The Lady Colonels moved to 17-19 overall and 10-6 in Freedom Conference play. The winner of the Wilkes/King's matchup will garner the No. 4 seed in the Freedom Conference Tournament to be held next weekend at Ralston Field in Edwardsville.