LANGHORNE, Pa. – The Cairn University softball team won, 5-4, in extra innings in their home opener against non-conference foe John Jay College inside the Stillman Complex on Monday afternoon. The second game of the scheduled doubleheader was not played due to inclement weather.
John Jay (8-7) struck first in the top of the third inning off an RBI-double to take a 1-0 lead. The Bloodhounds plated a runner in the fourth to extend the advantage to 2-0. Cairn (4-7) knotted the game up at two a-piece in the bottom half. Cairn loaded the bases and freshman
Jolene Zefferi (Bristol, PA / Bristol) reached on a fielder's choice. The Bloodhounds cut down senior
Theresa Beck (Lansdale, PA / Dock Mennonite Academy) at home, and tried to nab Zefferi at first for a double play, but an errant throw by the catcher resulted in two runners scoring.
Both teams would need extra innings to decide this affair, and John Jay took a 3-2 lead in the top of the eighth inning, before Beck tied the game up again with a sacrifice fly in the bottom half (3-3). The Bloodhounds regained the lead in the top of the tenth (4-3), before Beck stepped to the dish with runners on second and third in the bottom half of the frame. Beck proceeded to launch a walk-off, two-RBI double to the wall in left-center, plating junior
Adriana Shannon (Marlton, NJ / Cherokee) as the game-tying run and freshman
Myiah Petroro (Long Island, NY / Liberty Online) as the game-winning tally.
Beck led the offensive effort with a two-for-three day at the plate (both doubles) with a game-high three RBIs. Senior
Kacey Wees (Irwin, PA / Hempfield) was excellent in the circle in her fourth win of the season, tossing all 10 innings, scattering eight hits, four runs (two earned) and striking out four.
The Highlanders will be back on the field tomorrow when they travel to Newtown to take on junior college adversary Bucks County Community College in a single, seven-inning contest at 3 p.m.
