Shorewomen Record Victories Over #5 Cortland and Muskingum

AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Junior pitcher Kristin Cooper (Georgetown, Del./Sussex Central) became the Washington College softball program's all-time leader in wins with 30 in an 8-7 win over #5 Cortland on Friday morning in the in the team's first game of the day in the squad's final day at the Rebel Spring Games at the Auburndale Sports Complex.  The Shorewomen completed their 7-1 trip to Florida with a 5-3 victory over Muskingum, using a four-run sixth inning to take the lead.  With the pair of non-conference wins, the Shorewomen are now 11-1 on the season.

Cooper is now 30-18 all-time and surpasses Diane Green' 06 in victories.  Green won 29 games from 2003-06.  Cooper is also Washington's all-time leader in strikeouts with 267 and shutouts with eight.

Cortland (5-4), who got out of bases loaded two-out jam in the top of the second inning, erupted for four runs in the bottom of the second.  With one out, Courtney Kadish tripled to left to score Erin Wolstenholme for the game's first run.  Wolstenholme started the trouble for Washington when she doubled over the third base bag.  Kadish would come around to score on a single down the left field line by Carrie Stoddard to make it 2-0.  Rosie Phillips scored on a fielder's choice to put Cortland ahead by three and the scoring was capped when Briana Barca scored on a groundout to second off the bat of Jamie Bucci.

The Red Dragons took advantage of a two-out error in the last of the third to score an unearned run when Meaghan Kohler scored on a Stoddard single to left-center to push the lead to 5-0.

Washington came alive in the top of the fourth when they scored eight runs to turn a 5-0 deficit into an 8-5 lead.  Cooper scored on a throwing error to get the Shorewomen on the board and sophomore Paige Briganti (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) worked out a bases loaded walk to plate junior Kelsey Graham (Dunkirk, Md./Northern) to trim the lead to 5-2.  Sophomore Clare Hofstedt (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) came home on a fielder's choice to reduce the Red Dragons lead to just 5-3.  With one away, Briganti came home from third on a base hit to left by senior Lauren Dockrill (San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic) to cut Cortland's lead to 5-4.  The Shorewomen would take the lead at 6-5 when junior Suzanne Patinella (Fallston, Md./Maryvale Prep) singled through the left side to plate both freshman Caitlyn Kirby (Glen Burnie, Md./Glen Burnie) and senior Kylie Nottingham (Ocean City, Md./Stephen Decatur).  The scoring was capped when Cooper singled up the middle to drive in both Dockrill and Patinella to give the Shorewomen a three-run lead.

The Red Dragons would comeback with two runs in the bottom half of the fifth to reduce Washington's lead to 8-7.  Kadish doubled down the left field line to plate Kohler to cut the WC lead to 8-6 with one away.  With two outs, Bianca Trio scored on a base hit up the middle by Barca to get Cortland within one run.   In the bottom of the sixth, Cortland had two on with two out, but Cooper got Wolstenholme to hit a comebacker to Cooper to escape the inning unscathed.

In the bottom of the seventh, Cortland got a runner on second base, but Cooper got Amber Corrigan to foul out to Dockrill at first base for the game's final out and give Washington the win.

Cooper got the win in relief as she tossed the last 4 1/3 innings in relief, allowing just two runs on five hits.  She walked one and struck out three in getting the victory over the 2013 NCAA Division III Softball National Finalist to improve to 5-1.  At the plate, Cooper and Patinella both went 2-for-4 with two RBI each as the team had nine hits.  Nottingham also pounded out a pair of hits for Washington and reached base three times. 

Stoddard went 3-for-4 with two RBI, Kadish went 2-for-4 with two RBI and Kohler went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored for the Red Dragons, who had 10 hits in the contest.  Corrigan took the loss for Cortland and drops to 1-3.  She gave up six of the eight runs, five of which were earned.

Versus Muskingum (5-4), Amber Bova scored the game's first run on an infield single to third base off the bat Kayley Bevard with two away to give the Fighting Muskies a 1-0 lead in the top of the second.  The Shorewomen evened the game the last of the second when Dockrill scored from third on a throwing error to second base on a stolen base by Cooper with one away.  Washington almost took a 2-1 lead when Hofstedt hit a ball down the left field line that was ruled just foul by the umpire, but Muskingum got out of the inning tied 1-1.

Muskingum took a 2-1 lead in the top half of the fifth when Hannah Reese scored from third on a base hit Jaclynn Hess.  On the play, Hess tried to get into a run down to allow Bevard to score from second base, but Bevard was nailed at the plate and the Fighting Muskies settled for one run.

The Shorewomen scored four times in the bottom half of the sixth to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 5-2 lead.  WC took their its lead of the game, 3-2, in the bottom half of the sixth when Patinella singled up the middle on a full count pitch to plate both senior Hilary Rosenberg (Sweetwater, N.J./Oakcrest) and the go ahead run Dockrill with one out.  The next batter, Cooper delivered a two-bagger to left-center to score Patinella to give Washington a two-run lead at 4-2 and Cooper game home on an RBI groundout off the bat of Graham to cap the four-run outburst.

The Fighting Muskies would not go quietly in the top of the seventh as with two outs, Hess singled through the left side to score Bevard, who reached on an error, to cut the Washington lead to 5-3.  But sophomore pitcher Sydnee Schorr (Easton, Md./Easton) got Jessie Little to ground out to shortstop for the game's final out on a close play at first.

Schorr got the win in relief and is now 4-0 on the season.  She went the final two innings, allowing one unearned run on one hit and struck out two.  She relieved junior pitcher Christine Anderson (Palmer Lake, Colo./Lewis-Palmer) who went the first five innings and gave up six hits, two earned runs, walked two and struck out one.  At the plate, Cooper went 2-for-3, Patinella plated a pair and Dockrill scored twice.  Washington had six hits in the victory.

Hess went 2-for-4 with two RBI and Bevard went 2-for-4 for the Fighting Muskies as Muskingum had seven hits in the contest.  Ashley Gilbert took the loss and drops to 3-2 on the season as she tossed a complete game.  She allowed six hits, five runs, four earned, walked none and struck out six.  She also hit two batters to start the last of the sixth which helped ignite the four-run rally.

The Shorewomen are slated to be back in action on Wednesday when they travel to York (Pa.) for a 3:00 p.m. non-conference doubleheader.