Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Holy Cross
Softball Splits Four-Game SeriesWith Holy Cross
April 11, 2011 | Softball
Box Score - Game 1
Box Score - Game 2
WORCESTER, Mass. -Freshman Haley Pypes provided the game heroics for the second time in as many days with her walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning in lifting Army to a 3-2 defeat of Holy Cross in the first game of the teams' Patriot League softball doubleheader Sunday at Freshman Field.
The Crusaders jumped out to a 5-0 first inning lead en route to posting a 13-4 victory in a six-inning nightcap to earn the split of the second day doubleheader as the teams split the four-game weekend series down the middle. The Black Knights are 18-16 overall and 2-6 in the conference and the Crusaders stand 12-15 and 6-2.
The Black Knights took a 2-0 lead in the first game on single runs in the first and sixth innings. Alexis AuBuchon's two-out RBI single delivered Amanda Nguyen, who beat out an infield hit, for Army's run in the first inning. Alex Reynolds' leadoff home run in the sixth gave Army a 2-0 lead and accounted for the Black Knights' second round tripper in the series by the sophomore second baseman.
The Crusaders rallied in the top of the seventh with a pair of runs in tying the game 2-2 on Keeley Seniuk's two-run homer to left field. Holy Cross did not allow Army into scoring position over three straight innings, while Black Knight hurler Shawna Bleyl got out of a jam in the ninth after being touched for a one-out double by Caitlin Belanger. Bleyl stranded her at second as she ended that threat on a strikeout and lineout after putting a second runner on base with a walk.
The junior right-hander, who had thrown shutout ball over the first six innings, left a runner at first base in the 10th inning en route to stranding 13 Crusaders in recording both weekend wins against Holy Cross in moving to 9-7.
Pypes made a winner out of Bleyl in the home half of the 10th inning with her first hit of the game in five at-bats with a two-out blast to left center field for her fourth dinger in the series and sixth of the week. Pypes boosted her career total to nine round trippers to move into a tie for the lead on Army's single-season home run chart with Sarah Thornton, who set the record as a senior in 2001.
Army collected nine hits off two Crusader pitchers with Belanger (2-6) earning the loss in relief, while Bleyl yielded seven hits and struck out four over 11 innings in going the distance for the seventh time this season.
Holy Cross exploded for five runs in the top of the first inning in the nightcap, benefitting from four straight hits, three of those doubles, with one out. Army's Pypes left bases loaded in getting out of that frame on back-to-back flyouts. The Black Knights threatened in the bottom of the first with bases loaded, but Barrett induced the sixth batter in that inning to fly out to the right fielder.
The Crusaders plated a single run in the top of the second on Gwen Reimer's RBI single to pad their lead to 6-0. The Black Knights scored their first run in the bottom of the third on Pypes' RBI triple delivering AuBuchon, who singled with two outs, to draw to 6-1.
Holy Cross added three runs in the fourth inning keyed by Tiffany Medwid's two-run single, while Army added a pair of runs off reliever Jenna Legros (2-2) on Orenzo's two-out RBI single. Nguyen, who leads the league in steals, then stole home as the Black Knights drew to 9-3 on her third steal in the series and 18th overall to list tied for fifth place on Army's single-season chart.
The Crusaders, scoring runs in their final three innings, added one in the fifth and three more in the sixth before the Black Knights tallied their final run in the bottom of the sixth on Reynolds' second home run of the day and third in the series. But it wasn't enough to prevent the game from being called on the eight-run rule.
Army collected 10 hits with Ortenzo, Pypes and Reanna Johnson each collecting two, while Holy Cross had 15 hits off two Army pitchers. Ortenzo batted .444 (4-for-9) in the second day twinbill with Johnson and Pypes hitting .429.
Pypes and Reynolds batted .400 in the four-game series going 6-for-15 at the plate. Pypes drove in six runs and scored four, with Reynolds knocking in four runs and scoring five times. AuBuchon hit .412 (7-for-17) with two RBI and four runs scored. Army smacked seven home runs with Pypes ripping four and Reynolds three. Bleyl posed a 1.88 earned run average recording both wins for the weekend over 18.2 innings.
Two of the four games went into extra innings with all but one decided by a single run. Pypes lifted Army to an 8-7 (10) first-game win with a solo home run and did so again in a 3-2 (11) win in the third game in the series.
Army returns to action Wednesday hosting Iona in a non-league doubleheader before taking off for Lafayette next weekend in Patriot League action.
AROUND THE LEAGUE: Colgate remains unbeaten in the Patriot League after sweeping its series with Bucknell, 9-0 and 5-4 to move to 8-0. Lehigh blanked Lafayette, 1-0 and 10-0 (5) to move to 5-1 and will play its second twinbill Wednesday against the Leopards (0-7). Holy Cross is in second place in the league at 6-2. Army at 2-6 is ahead of Bucknell and Lafayette.
