(Posted March 13, 2008)

ANNVILLE, Pa. -- Juniata College pounded out five runs on 10 hits on its way to a 5-1 win over Lebanon Valley College, in the first game of a softball doubleheader Thursday afternoon in Annville, Pa. The Eagles (5-4) could not complete the sweep however, as Juniata dropped game two to the Flying Dutchmen, 4-3. Juniata plated one run in the first inning of game one, when Liz Schmitt's (Knoxville, Tenn./H. Frank Carey, N.Y.) grounder to third was misplayed, allowing Sarah Eckard (Hollidaysburg, Pa./Hollidaysburg) to score on the play. The Eagles pushed another run across in the second when Caley McCool (Spring Mills, Pa./Penns Valley) got aboard with a triple, eventually scoring on Amanda Albanese's (Hampton, N.J./North Hunterdon) drive into right field. Lebanon Valley got on the scoreboard in the third when LVC's Jessica Salisbury doubled home Lauren Sanford. Juniata widened its lead in the sixth with three runs, including two on a Melissa Moffat (Oceanside, Calif./Oceanside) single. Sophomore Alyssa Erb (Hollidaysburg, Pa./Hollidaysburg) fanned 11 Lebanon Valley batters while allowing one earned run on seven hits on her way to the win. In game two, a Juniata rally in the late inning fell short of the mark, after the Flying Dutchmen grabbed a two-run lead with single runs in the third and fourth innings. LVC put two runs on the scoreboard in the first inning, courtesy a Salisbury double. The Eagles knotted the game at 2-2 with a pair of runs in the top of the third, when Rachel Nagy (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth) doubled to left-center allowing Eckard and Tara Carl (Duke Center, Pa./Otto-Eldred) to score. The Flying Dutchmen put up one run in the bottom of the third on a Caitlin Keller double, and scored what proved to be the game-winner in the fourth when Laura Snyder's single down the left field line plated Chelsea Artz. Juniata cut the deficit in half on Rachel Nagy's home run to right field to lead off the fifth, but the Eagles would draw no closer. Juniata's Pam Mansell (Centre Hall, Pa./Penns Valley) was responsible for all four LVC runs while allowing eight hits and striking out two over four-and-a-third innings of work, and was charged with the loss. Erb came on in the fifth, and struck out three of the five batters she faced. The Eagle softball team will face Widener University on Saturday, March 15, at 1:00 p.m. in Chester, Pa. -30-

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Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.