LEWISBURG, PA ‘ The 51·çÁ÷ softball team (23-7 overall, 5-1 Patriot League) swept a Patriot League doubleheader from Bucknell (7-9, 3-3) Saturday to take over sole possession of first place in the league.'xml:namespace prefix = o ns = 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office' />
Senior Elena Isaac (Chandler, AZ) (11-2) won her 11th game of the season and hit her first career home run to lead 51·çÁ÷ to a 4-2 win in the opener, before the Raiders exploded for a 10-4 victory in the second game.
In the opener, Isaac scattered five hits over the first six innings, while walking one and striking out three. Kate Howard (Wheaton, IL) worked the seventh inning for her second save of the season. She retired the Bison in order with one strikeout.
Kim Olmstead (Spring Hill, FL) led off the first inning with a single, and after moving to second on Danielle Soule’s (Glendale, CA) sacrifice bunt, scored on Nichole Rawson’s (Palmdale, CA) single to give 51·çÁ÷ a 1-0 lead.
The Raider upped their advantage to 2-0 in the third inning on Isaac’s home run over the left field fence.
51·çÁ÷ scored again in the fourth inning for a 3-0 lead. Dorothy Donaldson (Lakeland, FL) walked to open the frame before moving to third on a Bucknell throwing error. She came home on Erin Hanna’s (Tucson, AZ) groundout to shortstop.
The Raiders’ final score was a one-out home run by Natalie Rawson (Palmdale, CA) in the sixth inning. It was her first home run of the season, and 22nd of her career.
Bucknell would score twice in the sixth before Howard shut the door on the Bison.
In the nightcap, 51·çÁ÷’s powerful offense exploded for a season-high 10 runs and 11 hits.
The Raiders fell behind twice in the contest before scoring eight runs in the seventh inning. 51·çÁ÷ tied the game 1-1 in the second inning on Hanna’s single, and again 2-2 in the third inning on back-to-back doubles by Olmstead and Soule.
Hanna had three hits to lead the Raiders while Nichole Rawson and Donaldson had two hits apiece.
Freshman Kelsey Nordstrom (Salina, KS) started for the Raiders, before Howard took over in the third inning. Howard (6-4) limited Bucknell to four hits, while striking out five and walking two.
GAME NOTES: Natalie Rawson has moved into third place in career RBI with 87 ‘ Donaldson has moved into sixth place in career runs scored with 80 ‘ Isaac, who retired the first 13 batters, had a streak of 22 innings without giving up an earned run stopped in the sixth inning. She has a league-leading 0.40 ERA.