Langhorne, PA - Philadelphia Biblical University nearly came away from Monday's doubleheader against the Giants of Keystone College with a sweep.

Box Score | Game 1
Box Score | Game 2

PBU's Kelly Hendrickson (Southampton, PA / William Tennet) pitched two complete games, including a 3 hit, 0 earned runs performance in game 1 and 6 strikeouts in game 2. In a low scoring affair, the Crimson Eagles used a 3-run opening inning to jump out on top, and that's all the offense they would need. Behind some fine defensive plays and quality pitching, PBU held the Giants to only 3 hits. Keystone made the Crimson Eagles sweat a little though, scoring two runs in the final 2 innings, making it 3-2. But the Crimson Eagles would close it out and seal at least one win on the day.

Game 2 would arrive and proved to be nothing like the previous game. PBU and Keystone took it in turn to score runs and after all was said and done, there was at least one run scored in each inning.

While several players went 2-for-4 on both squads, no one came close to matching Kelly Hendrickson's 5-for-5 performance at the plate for the Crimson Eagles. Hendrickson's teammate, senior Sara Poole (Edison, NJ / Timothy Christian) came the closest in a 3-for-5 outing, in addition to several fine defensive stops at shortstop. The trio of Kim Martin (Lititz, PA / Warwick), Emily Cronin (Franklinville, NY / New Life Christian), and Brigid Shehan (Media, PA / Penncrest) each went 2-for-4, while Cronin blasted in 4 RBI's.

The game was forced to extra innings in the bottom of the 7th inning when the Crimson Eagles trailed 6-4. Hendrickson and Martin knocked back-to-back singles, following a Poole groundout, but Hendrickson was caught trying to steal 3rd moments later, which left PBU facing 2 outs. Brigid Shehan stepped up and calmly hit a third straight single for PBU. What happened next was a bit chaotic. Emily Cronin reached base on a fielder's choice, but after a couple of missed opportunities by the Giants to throw-out the Crimson Eagle base runners, Cronin had reached third and Martin and Shehan had scored, tying the score at 6-6. A Jess Kirkner (Jamison, PA / Calvary Christian) strikeout ended the inning.

Forced into the 8th inning, Keystone responded with three runs jumping out to a 9-6 lead.

It was now PBU's turn for another comeback and a chance for the season sweep. Hannah Blackmer (Richmond, VA / James River) drove a single down the left field line to start things off, after an Emily Laudenslager (Allentown, PA / Parkland) pop up to the shortstop. Ashley Mitchell (Fairless Hills, PA / Pennsbury) went down swinging for the second out. With the pressure on, Sara Poole lined a single to left center, pushing Blackmer to second. Hendrickson continued her spectacular day with a shot to right field that scored Blackmer from second and moved Poole to third. With runners on the corners, and the tying run on first, the comeback was on. Two pitches later, Poole was picked off on a fluke play. A wild pitch by Keystone's Karissa Worobey got past catcher Samantha Hartman, cueing Poole to try stealing home. Unfortunately, the ball never made it far past Hartman as it bounced off the umpire and into Hartman's glove. Poole was caught in a rundown and eventually tagged out at third.

Keystone held on for a 9-7 win and split the day with a win apiece.

The addition of Kim Martin at third base has been crucial for the Crimson Eagles. Without Martin, Shehan deputized the hot corner at third, but now the freshman multi-sport athlete controls the outfield and the combination of the two have made the Crimson Eagles much more formidable and a big reason why PBU has taken 3 wins out of their last 6 games.

PBU is now 5-17; 2-8 in CSAC.