MIDDLETOWN, Pa. – In both games of Penn State Harrisburg's doubleheader against North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) opponent Gallaudet on Sunday, Apr. 21, outfielder Rachel Fisher (Lebanon, Pa. / Cedar Crest) batted ninth in the Blue & White lineup. Watching her against the visiting Bison, you'd have thought she hit cleanup her whole life. The freshman had quite a day as she hit a home run, a triple and two doubles in the Lions' 7-0 and 9-1 victories.
The ladies scored early and often on this day. In the bottom of the first inning, senior Kara Boyd (Alexandria, Pa. / Juniata Valley) reached base on a Gallaudet error. Freshman Rieley Loch (Madison Township, Pa. / North Pocono) kept her hot hitting going when she tripled to right field and drove in Boyd. Sophomore Erika Love (Harrisburg, Pa. / Central Dauphin East) scored Loch when the Gallaudet first baseman fielded her ground ball but tug her with an empty glove, giving Harrisburg a 2-0 lead.
The Lions added another run in the bottom of the second. Fisher led off the inning with her first double of the afternoon, a laser shot down the left field line. Three batters later, Loch used a quality piece of hitting to score her from second base with a two-out RBI single up the middle.
The home team kept things rolling in the bottom of the next stanza. Freshman Jennifer Bear (Lebanon, Pa. / Cedar Crest) singled to left field while Fisher, a fellow Cedar Crest alum, plated her with a triple she lined to opposite field over the head of the Bison right fielder. Sophomore Gabrielle Wolfe's (New Milford, Pa. / Blue Ridge) RBI groundout scored Fisher to make it 5-0 Harrisburg.
Boyd recorded an RBI of her own in the bottom of the fifth. Fisher ran the bases hard and reached second thanks to a Bison error in left field. Wolfe followed her with a single through the middle and Boyd smoked a shot off the shoulder of Gallaudet's second baseman that deflected into right field and scored both base runners.
That was all the scoring Penn State Harrisburg needed in the opener as Wolfe threw a shutout inside the circle. She hurled a complete-seven inning contest, giving up seven hits and striking out five batters. She sat Gallaudet down 1-2-3 in the top of the fourth and worked out of two bases loaded jams in the first and seventh innings. Wolfe's stout performance on the rubber led to her third victory of the season.
Fisher went 2-3 at the plate with an RBI and three runs scored while Loch was 3-4 with two RBIs and a run scored. The Lions' lineup had a strong outing and recorded ten total hits in game number one.
It took Penn State Harrisburg a few more innings to get rolling offensively in the finale but once the team started to hit, it didn't want to stop. This time, the home team's defense was on display early. In the top of the third, Gallaudet threatened to get on the board first. Kara Gulvas hit a two-out double and the next batter, Alicia Johnson, poked a single into center field. Gulvas got the green light and was sent home by the third base coach. Blue & White freshman Jasmine Yanich (Harrisburg, Pa. / Susquehanna Township) had other ideas and fired an absolute strike from center field to freshman Sydney Eelman (Lititz, Pa. / Warwick) behind the plate to gun down Gulvas and keep the Bison off the board.
The bottom of the stanza saw the Blue & White put its first runs on the board. Fisher plated from third on a wild pitch while Wolfe and Loch scored when Love singled to center field. Back-to-back singles by sophomore Alli Trutt (Halifax, Pa. / Halifax) and Bear drove in Love and Eelman to make it 5-0 Harrisburg.
The Bison picked up their first run of the afternoon in the top of the fourth inning but the home team responded in the bottom of the stanza when Fisher connected with a solo home run over the right center field fence. The blast was Fisher's second of the year. Following the solo shot, the Lions put together a two-out rally when Loch and Love posted back-to-back singles before Eelman drove in Loch with a single of her own, this time to center field to push the lead to 7-1.
The next few innings were quiet offensively but the Lions finally brought things to a close in the bottom of the sixth when Boyd began the inning with a booming triple to right field. Loch lined a sacrifice fly to center field and brought Boyd home while Eelman's walk-off double to left field scored Love from first base two batters later.
Boyd, fresh off recording her 300th career strikeout one day earlier, picked up her tenth win of the season inside the circle. She threw all six innings and allowed just five hits and one run. She struck out three Bison and went 1-3 from the plate with a run scored.
Fisher was 2-3 at the dish with an RBI and two runs scored. For the day, the frosh went an impressive 4-6 with four extra base hits, two RBIs and five runs scored. Love was also 2-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored while Eelman's 3-4 performance added three total runs. Every batter in the Penn State Harrisburg lineup finished with at least one hit in the nightcap.
The pair of victories improved the Lions' overall record to 13-21 on the year and got the team back to .500 in conference play for the first time this spring. With just one week of play remaining, the Blue & White still have a chance at a NEAC championship tournament postseason berth.