Story By Seth Goodyear
SALISBURY, MD- Penn State Harrisburg fought hard against the #2 ranked Salisbury Seagulls, but fell 8-0 in game one and 11-1 in game two.
The Blue & White came out of the gate strong behind Freshman pitcher Amanda Hartman (Reading, Pa. / Oley Valley) holding the Seagulls to one hit through the first two innings.
In the second inning the Lion's offense found some success when Sophomore Rieley Loch (Madison Township, Pa. / North Pocono) drove a ball to center field for the teams first hit of the game. Two batters later, Junior Jackie Furch (Hallstead, Pa. / Blue Ridge) hit an awkward bouncing ball to the short stop and beat the throw. However the offense could not bring a runner home.
Salisbury's offense got on the board first in the third inning via a three run homerun.
The Lions offense tried to get back in the game in the top of the fourth inning. After Freshman Leah Palm (Hummlestown, Pa / Lower Dauphin) drew a walk, then Loch crushed another single to right field putting runners on first and third. However Salisbury's defense was able to turn a double play, which stifled the Lions offense.
Using the momentum, the Seagulls loaded the bases and drove in five runs on four hits in the bottom of the fourth inning to put the game out of reach and went on to win 8-0.
The Lions came out in game two being aggressive right from the start. Freshman Kayla Seyfet (Lebanon, Pa. / Cedar Crest) singled up the middle to lead off the game. Seyfert would advance to third on a sacrifice bunt and passed ball, but could not reach home.
After giving up a run in the bottom of the first inning, the Blue and White's offense tried again to make some noise. Jackie Furch once again reached first on an infield single to the short stop. Amanda Hartman followed that up with a single driven hard to center field. However with two outs the Seagulls pitching got a strike out to end the rally.
Salisbury added two more runs in the bottom of the second to extend their advantage to 3-0.
The Lion's offense continued to fight back and finally broke through in the top of the third frame. Seyfert lead of the inning by laying down a perfect bunt in front of the plate, and then easily beating the throw to first. Junior Keriann Saich (Hershey, Pa. / Hershey) put down a bunt moving Seyfert to second. Leah Palm ground ball back to the pitcher allowed the runner to move to third with two outs. Rieley Loch smashed a single to right allowing the run to score cutting the lead to two. Loch finished the day 3 for 4 with a RBI.
The Salisbury offense responded hitting a homerun in the bottom of the third and fourth innings to put the game out of reach for Penn State Harrisburg winning 11 to 1.
Penn State Harrisburg fell to 7-11 overall and 1-5 in conference. The team will be back in action on Wednesday when they travel to face conference foe York at 3 p.m.