Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Holy Cross
Softball Splits Saturday's Twinbill At Holy Cross
April 10, 2011 | Softball
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
WORCESTER, Mass. - Freshman Haley Pypes blasted a tie-breaking solo home run in the top of the 10th inning, her second round tripper of the game, and Army made that stand as the Black Knights battled from behind to defeat Holy Cross, 8-7, in the first game of a Patriot League doubleheader on Saturday.
The Crusaders (11-14, 5-1 PL) snapped a 3-3 tie on Tiffany Medwid's two-out RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning to gain a split with a 4-3 nightcap decision at Freshman Field.
Overcoming an early 5-0 deficit in the opener, the Black Knights (17-15, 1-5 PL) chipped away at the Crusaders lead with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth innin on Rachael Duval (2-for-5 with three RBI) two-run double, then went in front 7-5 following a five-run fifth-inning flurry. Army collected six hits in the fifth, scoring the first three runs on RBI doubles by Alexis AuBuchon, Alex Reynolds and Duval. Pypses followed with a two-run tie-breaking homer to left field in knocking out starter Julia Barrett.
The Crusaders retied the game 7-7 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning rallying on Fleming's leadoff home run and Keeley Seniuk's two-out RBI single to left field. With runners at first and second, Shawna Bleyl, who had taken over in relief in the second inning, nipped that threat on a strikeout looking.
Bleyl got out a bases-loaded jam in the seventh after being touched for a pair of hits and a walk with one out. Following a force play at home plate, Bleyl inducing the next batter to fly out to right field, then stranded a runner in both the eighth and ninth innings.
Army left four runners on base over the next three games (seventh, eighth and ninth inning) before snapping loose on Pypes second homer of the game, a leadoff blast in the top of the 10th inning. Kali Hass (4-6), who picked up the loss in relief, retired the side but the damage was down.
The first two outs in the home half of the 10th was followed by a hit batsman, but Bleyl ended the Crusaders' hopes on a grounder back to the circle to improve to 8-7 after yielding six hits and striking out four batters over 7.2 innings in relief.
The Black Knights recorded a season-high 16 hits with Amanda Nguyen, AuBuchon and Reynolds collecting three each, with Duval and Pypes driving in three runs in collecting two hits in five at bats.
Army opened the scoring in the nightcap in the top of the second inning on Duval's sacrifice fly delivering AuBuchon, who ripped a leadoff double to right field and moved to third on Reynolds sacrifice bunt. Holy Cross tied the game on Seniuk's RBI double in the third inning with two outs. The Crusaders then loaded the bases on a walk and hit batsman, but Pipes ended that threat win a strikeout swinging.
Both teams scored a pair of runs in the fifth inning with Army's on solo home runs by Reynolds and Pypes to pull ahead 3-1. That lead proved shortlived as Gwen Reimer drove in two runs with a single to left field with no outs in the bottom half. Pypes left runners at first and second as she retired the side on back-to-back strikeouts, the last looking, and an infield popup.
Jenna Legros, who took over the circle for the Crusaders, in the top of the sixth, did not allow the Black Knights into scoring position throwing one-hit shutout relief. The black Knights were held to five hits with Aubuchon collecting two in hitting .625 (5-for-8) in the twinbill with four of her hits doubles, along with scoring three runs. Reynolds batted .571 (4-for-7) with three runs scored
The Crusaders made a winner out of Legros in the home half of the seventh when Sam Fregenti led off with a double, then gave way to pinch runner Katie Alexander. Reimer drew a walk followed by Camille Trainor's bunt single to load the bases. Following a fly out and strikeout looking, Medwid came to the plate and provided the game heroics when she beat out an infield hit to deliver the tie-breaking run in making a loser out of Pypes (7-6).
Pypes smacked three home runs in the twinbill and five for the week to boost her team lead to eight round trippers, which ranks second on Army's single-season chart and one shy of leader Sarah Thornton, who set the record in 2001.
Army and Holy Cross will close out their four-game series with the second doubleheader of the weekend slated to begin at 12 noon on Sunday. Fans can follow Holy Cross' Anna Poulter-Hendrickson's blog at http://www.goholycross.com/sports/w-softbl/2010-11/releases/20110407l4aey9.
In other Patriot League action, Colgate took over first place in the standings with a 6-0 mark following a sweep of Bucknell (1-5). The Lehigh (3-1)-Lafayette (0-4) twinbill on Friday was rained out and they will play their first doubleheader Sunday with a Wednesday makeup. Holy Cross is second in the standings with a 5-1 mark.
NOTES: Rachael Duval and Haley Pypes drove in four runs in the twinbill ... Alexis AuBuchon's 12 doubles this season are tied for 10th place on Army's single-season charts, while moving into third place on the career list with 39, which is seven off second place ... Alex Reynolds' team-high 28 runs batted in lists 10th on the season charts and is one shy of eighth place ... Shawna Bleyl has 30 career wins and is one shy of taking over sixth place ... freshman Amanda Nguyen continues to lead Army's offense ... she is hitting .364 with a team-high 40 hits and 23 runs scored ... Duval is second in runs with 22 to boost her career total to 77, which ranks seventh all-time where her 65 RBI earned a share of 10th place with Sheri Schweiker (1991-94).
