EDWARDSVILLE – Sarah Gibson (Chico, CA/Pleasant Valley) hit a ninth inning solo home run to hand the Wilkes University softball team a 3-2 win in game one of its Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) doubleheader against Misericordia University Saturday afternoon at the Ralston Athletic Complex. Misericordia walked off with a 4-3 victory in game two.

Wilkes stands at 9-5 overall on the season and 1-1 in MAC Freedom action while Misericordia is 6-8 overall and also 1-1 in the conference. The Cougars played as the home team in the Lady Colonels home park due to the game being moved from Dallas, Pa. because of poor field conditions.

Misericordia gained a 2-0 lead after three innings of game one with solo home runs in the bottom of the first and third.

Wilkes began its comeback in the top of the fifth. Nicolette Kessler (Bangor, PA/Bangor) reached on an error to start the inning and came in for an unearned run when Celine Podlesney (Hazle Twp., PA/Hazleton) singled to third base for the RBI.

The Lady Colonels tied the game in the top of the sixth after Christina Gambino (Basking Ridge, NJ/Ridge) doubled to start the inning. Sarah Birchmeier (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill East) moved her to third with a sacrifice bunt and then Sydney Cogswell (Apalachin, NY/Vestal) provided the RBI double to bring in Gambino.

The game went to extra innings after both teams failed to score in the seventh inning. The Lady Colonels threatened in the top of the eighth with the first two hitters reaching but were unable to score. Gracen Staunton (Kernersville, NC/Northwest Guilford) then worked out of the bottom half of the inning after allowing two walks.

Gibson then led off the top of the ninth with a home run over the left field fence to push Wilkes ahead 3-2. Staunton followed by sitting down the Cougars in order with two groundouts and Staunton caught a line drive back at her for the final out in the bottom of the ninth.

Staunton (4-1) went all nine innings allowing two runs on three hits and she struck out a season-high eight. The Wilkes offense racked up 12 hits including a 3-for-5 effort from Gambino. Gibson went 2-for-3 with a walk and Jordyn Kondras (Willow Street, PA/Lampeter-Strasburg), Britny Jumalon (Torrance, CA/Torrance), Podlesney, Caitlin Brown (Glen Cove, NY/Glen Cove), Staunton, Haley Welker (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth), and Cogswell all added one hit apiece.

The Lady Colonels jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning in game two of the doubleheader after Kondras came around to score after reaching on an error. Jumalon laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Kondras into scoring position. From there Gibson singled up the middle to score Kondras.

Wilkes kept the Cougars off the board in the bottom of the fourth when Jumalon ran down a double at the fence in the left center field gap and got the ball into Staunton who then fired a perfect relay throw to the plate to cut down the Misericordia runner trying to score from first. Gibson applied a great tag on the play to notch the final out of the frame.

Brown walked to start the fifth inning and Erika Gerace (Orwigsburg, PA/Blue Mountain) entered to pinch run for Brown. Gerace moved to second on a sacrifice by Birchmeier and then to third on a wild pitch. Jumalon then singled through the left side to score Gerace and put Wilkes ahead 2-0. Birchmeier's sacrifice in the inning made her the program's record holder for sacrifice hits in a career with 20.

The Cougars got on the board in the bottom of the fifth with one run on an RBI single to center. Misericordia tied the game in the sixth inning with a walk followed by two singles and then pushed ahead on a sacrifice fly to right field to take a 3-2 lead.

Kessler walked with one out in the top of the seventh to put the tying run on and Jumalon came through with a clutch two-out run-scoring double to the left center field gap to knot the game at three.

Misericordia walked off with the win on three consecutive two-out hits in the bottom of the seventh to earn the 4-3 victory.

Podlesney (2-4) went 6.2 innings giving up four earned runs on 11 hits and four walks. Jumalon went 2-for-2 with two RBI's while Kondras, Gibson, and Gambino added the other hits for Wilkes in game two.

The Lady Colonels return to the Ralston Athletic Complex tomorrow (Sunday) to host Eastern University in another MAC Freedom doubleheader. First pitch of game one is slated for 2:00 p.m.