April 10, 2000

WORCESTER, Mass. - Lafayette had three chances to win a thriller versus Holy Cross, but in the end it was the Crusaders who pulled out a 3-2 win in the first game of a doubleheader today.

The game was tied after the fourth inning, 2-2. In the fifth, Lafayette's Vanessa Dawson (Victor, N.Y./Victor) tripled with two outs, but remained on third as the next batter flied out to centerfield.

The Leopards had another chance in the sixth as shortstop Mara Shainheit (Mt. Holly, N.J./ Ravicocas Valley) reached on an error and advanced to second, but was left stranded on a groundout to second base.

Lafayette's final chance came in the top of the seventh inning, when Becky Chmielowski (Mountaintop, Pa./Crestwood) singled and eventually reached second base on sophomore Liz Lucisano's (Levittown, Pa./Villa Joseph Marie) base-on-balls. She was gunned down at third for the third out when Liz Siliato (San Francisco, Calif./Andover Academy) hit a ground ball to the third baseman.

The Crusaders took advantage of Lafayette's misfortune, and put the game away in the bottom of the seventh inning. Holy Cross' leadoff hitter Jaime Olenoski started off the inning with a double, and came around to score with one out on Alysa Hayden's RBI single, spoiling Leopard pitcher Erin Hall's (Langhorne, Pa./Neshaminy) bid for a complete game win.

Third baseman Jana DeFillips (Cedar Knolls, N.J./Whippany Park) managed a 1-for-2 day, scoring a run, while catcher Gina Galati (McMurray, Pa./Canon-McMillian) went 2-for-4.