WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- Penn College held firm in a pair of one-run victories to defeat Penn State Abington in the quarterfinal round of the United East Conference Softball Playoffs Friday afternoon. The third-seeded Wildcats earned a 3-2 victory in game one before using a come-from-behind effort to take game two, 5-4 and claim the doubleheader sweep over the sixth-seeded Nittany Lions. PCT improved to 31-5 on the season while Penn State Abington finished with an 18-23 record.
The Wildcats advances to the conference's double-elimination final four next Friday and Saturday hosted by top-seeded Penn State Brandywine.
In game one,
Penn College scored two runs in the third inning on a pair of ground out RBIs as
Mackenzi Tice and
Sam Shaw scored to lead 2-0. Abington cut the deficit in half with an RBI double in the fifth, but
Taylor Brown responded in the bottom half of the frame with an RBI double of her own to score
Sofia Mileto.
Abington threatened in the top of the seventh with a sac fly to make it a one-score game with the bases loaded but Tice mowed down the final batter to pick up her 15th strikeout of the game and earn her 19th victory in the circle.
In game two,
The Lions jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning before
Payton Crawford hit an RBI double in the third inning to record her 100th career hit and drive in
Carissa Lusk. Abington plated another run in the top of the fourth with an RBI single to lead 4-1.
Crawford's triple in the fifth inning ignited the Wildcats offense to score four unanswered runs -- two in the fifth and two in the sixth -- to earn the victory. Her triple scored Mileto and Brown drove in Crawford with a deep double to center field.
Addison Detweiler scored the game-tying run in the sixth on an error and Tice beat the tag on a play at the plate for the go-ahead run later in the inning.
Crawford finished 3-for-4 with a double, a triple and two RBIs while Tice tossed her second complete game victory of the afternoon.
