North Myrtle Beach, SC - The Mount Aloysius Softball team picked up their 6th and 7th consecutive wins on Thursday. They defeated Centenary University by a score of 10-3, and then dispatched Morrisville State 13-0 in 5 innings.

The Mounties got off to a slow start following a day off as they fell behind for the first time since their season opener and trailed through the first 2 and 1/2 innings. Caroline Showalter (Bellwood, PA/Bellwood Antis) got things started in the 3rd, as she hit a lead off double into the right center field gap. This was followed by a Kara Pisczek (Johnstown, PA/Conemaugh Township) triple to left center to tie the game. After Pisczek kept the Tornados scoreless in the 4th, the Mounties took the lead for good in the bottom of the 4th. The first 5 batters reached base for Mount Aloysius with Showalter collecting an RBI with a bases loaded walk, Abby Reitz (Greencastle, PA/Greencastle Antrim) driving in two with a single up the middle and the final run scoring on an error. 

Centenary was able to battle back with 2 runs of their own in the 5th, but the Mounties were able to put the game away in the home half of the frame. They took advantage of 5 walks, 1 error and a wild pitch to score 5 runs on only 1 hit. Reitz, Tawnya Holben (Pittsburgh, Pa/Fox Chapel) and Lydia DeFazio (Harrison City, PA/Penn Trafford) drew run scoring walks and Pisczek drove in another with a single to right. 

Pisczek scattered 8 hits in 6 and 2/3 innings while allowing 2 earned runs. She picked up her 2nd win of the year with her performance. Showalter reached base 4 times in the game, recording 2 hits and drawing 2 walks. Reitz drove in 3 runs while Pisczek drove in 2.

The Mounties hot hitting continued as they moved to their second game of the day. They defeated Morrisville 13-0, scoring one or more run in each of their at bats. 

They scored 2 runs in the first on Reitz and DeFazio RBI singles. Holben continued the scoring in the second as she hit her first career triple to the right center field gap to score 2 and DeFazio knocked her in with another run scoring single 1 batter later. Nina Shatzer also recorded her first triple of the year, driving a ball through the infield and into the gap in right center field. (St. Thomas, PA/James Buchanan). She scored on the next at bat when Leanne Cardoso-Bastos (Hillside, NJ/David Brearly) beat out an infield single.

Shatzer came up big again in the 4th frame as she drove a bases loaded single to right field to score 2 more runs. The Mounties hit 3 extra base hits in their final at bat in the fifth to score the final 4 runs. Stevi Confer (Bellefonte, Pa/Bellefonte) hit the first with a double to left center in her first at bat of the season. Showalter followed this up with a double of her own to right field. Shatzer finished the scoring as she drove in two more runs with a double down the left field line.

Taylor Cashner dominated in the pitching circle while her offense build an insurmountable lead. She allowed only 3 hits in the 5 innings pitched while striking out 5. She picked up a complete game shutout in her first start in a Mountie uniform. Shatzer was the offensive star of the game as she finished 3/4 with 2 runs scored and 4 runs batted in. Lydia Defazio also collected a multiple hit game, going 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs.

The Mounties are now 7-1 on the season. Their Spring Break trip to South Carolina will come to an end tomorrow as they have 2 games before they return to Cresson. They will take on Norwich University at 9:30 AM and then finish the week with a game against the University of Pikeville at 1:30.