The Misericordia softball team swept a doubleheader for the second straight day, this time taking two from Muhlenberg, Sunday afternoon at Anderson Field. The Cougars came back in game one to win 14-9 before winning the second game, 11-3, in five innings.
The Cougars improve to 11-9 while the Mules fall to 8-14.
Jessie McDonough went 3-4 with a home run and four RBI and Maddie Holub went 2-4 with a home run and two RBI. Ciara DeLong racked up three hits and three RBI while Kiersten Pflueger had two hits, two RBI and three runs scored.
Jordan Hoffman pitched 5.1 innings, allowing two earned runs while striking out three, to get the win.
After falling behind 3-0 in the first, the Cougars came right back to tie it in the bottom half. Pflueger hit a two-run single before McDonough hit a single through the right side, scoring Pflueger.
Down 7-3 in the third, Misericordia scored two runs to cut their deficit in half, getting an RBI double from McDonough and a run-scoring single off the bat of Kayla Stephani.
After Muhlenberg retook a four-run lead in the fourth, the Cougars got a run back in the bottom half on an RBI single up the middle by Brianna Holder, scoring Pflueger, who had singled earlier in the inning.
In the fifth inning, Jordan Hoffman led off the inning with a double in the right-center field gap. DeLong singled her home before Holub tied the game on a two-run home run to right field.
After Hoffman held the Mules off the board in the sixth, the Cougars took the lead for the first time in the bottom off the inning as McDonough smacked a two-run home run over the left field fence. DeLong added an RBI-double and Holub had an RBI-single to provide some insurance.
Hoffman gave up a leadoff double in the seventh, but got the next three batters out, including a strikeout to end the game, to secure the victory for the Cougars.
In the second game, the Cougars hit three home runs, getting two from Kayla Stephani and one from DeLong, to cruise to an 11-3 victory.
Brooke Moyle threw five innings in the circle to earn the win and improve to 5-3. She scattered eight hits, allowing three runs while striking out five.
The Mules jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first, but again the Cougars responded to tie the game in the bottom half. After the first two batters got out, Stephani hit a home run to center field to even the score at one.
The Cougars scored six runs in the second to blow the game open. After loading the bases, Abby Marzzacco hit a sacrifice fly to left to give MU the lead. Holub and Amanda Butera followed with doubles to extend the lead to 5-1 before Stephani hit her second home run of the game just inside the foul pole down the left field line.
DeLong provided insurance in the third by smacking a two-run home run to left field.
In the fourth, Moyle worked her way out of trouble after giving up a single and double to start the inning, bearing down to strike out the next two batters before getting Karissa Astrella to fly out to right field to escape the inning unscathed.
Marzzacco came through again in the fourth, hitting a single to center field to knock in two runs and take an 11-1 lead.
Muhlenberg scored two runs in the fifth, but the Cougars held on to an eight-run lead to win in five innings.
The Cougars will host Scranton, Thursday at 3:00.
