CLARKS SUMMIT, PA- The Lady Patriots competed in their first regional game of the season, traveling to Baptist Bible College to play a doubleheader match-up against the Lady Defenders.  Despite a late offensive surge, the women dropped both matches to the host school, 4-9 in game one and 10-13 in game two.

From the start the Defenders marked their ground, recording four runs in first inning.  A combination of power hits and fielding errors left VFCC playing catchup.  Moving forward, first year pitcher Molly Rupert stepped up, throwing strikes and working her infield to retire the opponent.

It wasn't until the top of the fourth inning that the Lady Patriots seemed to find their way around the Defenders' defense and back to home plate.  With one out and one runner on base, Amanda McGinness connected with the ball, sending it into centerfield allowing Samantha Reed to put VFCC on the board.

By the bottom of the ninth, BBC led the Patriots 9-4 to bring game one to a close. 

The Lady Patriots found themselves repeating history, as the Defenders rattled off six runs by the close of the first inning.  Gaining a pair of runs in the second and third, and leaving VFCC with just one run in the fourth inning, it appeared the Defenders had the game locked up.  At the top of the fifth, with two outs against them, the Lady Patriots refused to go down without a fight, and that's exactly what they did. 

Rounding the bases on passed balls, Tamika Piper was in prime scoring position on third base.  Ariene Ohimor reached first after being hit by a pitch and suddenly VFCC had two runners on base.  A clean single from Amanda McGinness brought Piper in and Ohimor to third base.  A fielding error at shortstop allowed Sarah Brugere to reach first base and advanced all the runners to bring in Ohimor and load the bases.  A single into left field from Samantha Reed earned her two RBI's as McGinness and Gomez crossed home plate.  A ripped double from Samantha Gavin and stolen base from Samantha Reed put VFCC right on the heels of the Defenders, 7-10!  The Defenders finally put an end to the inning but now it was anyone's game.  As VFCC took the field they were able to limit the Defenders to just one unearned run.

Into the sixth inning, the women were able to get two runners on base before Amanda McGinness made solid connection with the ball, grabbing a triple and earning two more runs for the visitors.  By the end of the inning the Lady Patriots were just one run shy of tying the game, 10-11.  Unfortunately, that is as close as the game would get as the Defenders protected their field and recorded two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to go up, 13-10 and left VFCC without any runs in the seventh inning to end the game.
 
Amanda McGinness went 4-for-4, earning three RBI's and three runs. 
 
"For the fifth and sixth game in a row we have given up multiple unearned runs in the first inning. We need to come out and play clean defense in the first inning. We have played great defense in innings 2 through 7 however the deficits we build after the first inning have been haunting us." Stated Head Coach Blair Dameron.  "Offensively we continue to improve as we get more at bats and we have been very aggressive on the base paths. We have 22 stolen bases through 10 games compared to 13 stolen bases in total last year. I am very happy to see improvements not just on the base paths but in most of the offensive categories thus far. 

We showed a lot of fight in game two, battling back from a 10-1 deficit. I am very proud of the way the girls played. They showed resilience and I see them starting to click more as a team. My assistants and I are excited about the next 3-4 weeks as we continue to get better as individuals and grow as a team."

The Lady Patriots travel to Albright College for their next doubleheader, Sunday, April 6.  Game one is set to start at 1PM.

Go Patriots!