March 12, 2007
Box Score
KISSIMMEE, Fla. (www.lafayette.edu) - The Lafayette softball team defeated Manhattan 10-4 and shut out Vermont 2-0 in the second day of the Rebel Spring Games on Monday.
The Leopards rebounded from a pair of losses to open the season on Sunday, falling 4-0 to Hartford and 13-2 to Cleveland State. Lafayette will play Manhattan and Cleveland State on Tuesday, part of 10 games over six days to jumpstart the 2007 schedule.
Freshman Christina Giambrone had clutch hits for the Leopards in both victories on Monday. Against Manhattan, she hit a three-run home run with two outs in the seventh inning to extend Lafayette's lead to 10-4. Her two-out, two-run double in the sixth inning against Vermont provided the only two runs of the game and provided the offense for freshman Kasey Karr, who earned her first career victory with the shutout.
After Manhattan scored twice in the bottom of the first, a second-inning single by Michelle Ellis scored Giambrone to get Lafayette on the board. The Jaspers added another in the bottom of the frame before sophomore Kristen Ruckno plated two with a single to tie the game at 3-3 in the top of the third.
Lafayette added two more in the fifth, as senior Jill Masterton scored on a passed ball and Karr singled to bring home Robyn Matchett. Manhattan pulled within 5-4 in the fifth before Karr entered the game to relieve senior Megan Averbuch in the bottom of the sixth.
The Leopards scored five runs in the top of the seventh to put the game away. Before Giambrone's three-run blast, Matchett scored on another single by Karr, and a base hit by Sarah Price scored Amanda Parker, who entered the game as a pinch runner.
Averbuch picked up her first win of the season, and the 21st of her career, after throwing five innings, and Karr notched her first career save. Matchett was 3-of-4 in the game and scored three runs, and is 5-for-11 at the plate through the first four games of the season.
In the second game of the day, neither Lafayette or Vermont dented the scoreboard until Giambrone's two-out double in the bottom of the sixth. Masterton doubled and Karr singled earlier in the inning, and both scored on Giambrone's two-base hit.
Karr surrendered just three hits over seven innings and struck out a pair, and didn't allow a run in nine innings on the day.
On Sunday, Averbuch didn't allow an earned run but was the victim three errors behind her as the Leopards dropped a 4-0 decision to Hartford to open the season. Brittney Stratton hurled a four-hit shutout for the Hawks. In the second game, Cleveland State pounded out 18 hits and scored three runs each in the second and fourth innings to claim a 13-2 victory.
