On the last day of the regular season, the Misericordia softball team swept Lycoming in a doubleheader, Sunday afternoon at Anderson Field, setting a new single-season home run record in the process. MU won the first game, 5-4, before taking the second game in six innings, 13-4.
The Cougars now sit at 22-16 heading into the postseason as the Warriors finish their season with a record of 12-26.
Ciara DeLong had a home run in each game, including a go-ahead grand slam in game two, which was also the 39th home run hit by the Cougars this season, breaking the record of 38 set in 2015. Amanda Butera had five hits in the two games with a home run and four runs batted in.
Victoria Schmidt threw 3.1 innings and allowed just two runs and Ashlee Brosky pitched 3.2 innings in relief to earn the win in game one. Brooke Moyle went the distance in game two while striking out four to earn her ninth win of the season.
Game one remained scoreless until the fourth inning when the Warriors broke through for two runs. Lori Brennan got a run back for the Cougars in the bottom half with a home run to left-center field. The long ball was her sixth of the season.
In the fifth, Misericordia took the lead on back-to-back home runs from DeLong and Butera. DeLong pulled her shot to left field while Butera sent hers the opposite way down the right-field line. Jessie McDonough drove in the third run of the inning with a single after Brianna Holder walked and Kiersten Pflueger singled. Brosky helped herself later in the inning with a sacrifice fly to score Carson Mahoney, who had pinch ran for Pflueger.
Lycoming scored twice in the sixth, but Brosky limited the damage by getting a groundout to end the inning. In the seventh, she allowed a leadoff single, but got the next three batters out, including a strikeout to end the game, the only strikeout for a Cougars pitcher in the game.
In game two, the Warriors scored a run in the first and two in the second to take an early lead, but the Cougars answered with two of their own in the bottom of the second. Maddie Stebich started a two-out rally with a walk and came around to score on a double from Maddie Holub. DeLong followed with a pop-up to shortstop that was dropped allowing Holub to score.
In the third inning, Moyle hit an RBI single to tie the game. After Stebich walked to load the bases, DeLong gave the Cougars the lead for good with a grand slam to a similar spot as her blast in game one.
Moyle and Stebich added RBI singles in the fourth to give Misericordia a 9-4 lead. In the sixth, the Cougars ended the game by scoring four runs. DeLong came up with the bases loaded and a chance for her second grand slam of the day but settled for a single before Butera ripped a bases-clearing triple to right-center field to give the Cougars the victory.
Misericordia is back in action, Friday at noon in the MAC Freedom Tournament. The Cougars will play DeSales in the first round. The winner of that game will play at the winner of the Manhattanville-King's game at 2:00 while the losers of the games will play at 4:00. The entire tournament will be hosted by King's College in Wilkes-Barre.
