FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ELIZABETHTOWN COLLEGE SOFTBALL
Thursday, April 8, 1999

ETOWN SPLITS DOUBLEHEADER WITH WESTERN MARYLAND; MILNES STRIKES OUT NINE IN GAME ONE WIN

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- Linda Milnes (Cinnaminson, N.J./Cinnaminson) tossed a nine-strikeout complete game for her third straight win to help Elizabethtown split a doubleheader with Western Maryland in non-league action on Thursday.  The Blue Jays (11-12) took the opener, 5-4, before falling to the Green Terror in game two, 8-3.

Vikki Detweiler went 4-for-6 with two runs scored while Laurie Morris collected two hits, including a solo home run, and two RBI for the Blue Jays.  Kristy Nowell added three hits and Kelly Spence knocked in three runs on the afternoon as Etown extended its season-best winning streak to seven games before dropping the nightcap.

Stacy Seward and Lauren Henry each went 4-for-7 with a triple on the day to lead Western Maryland's high-powered offense.  The Green Terror (8-8), which entered the game with a team batting average of .415, tallied five doubles and three triples among their 21 hits.

In game one, Milnes continued to rack up the K's while the Blue Jays used a pair of keys hits and a crucial Western Maryland error to pick up their seventh straight win.

Spence erased a 1-0 Western Maryland lead with a two-out, two-run double in the third inning.  Morris singled home Kristen Lezinski in the fourth to give the Blue Jays a 3-1 lead.

Seward drove in Steph Bell with an RBI single to pull the Green Terror within 3-2 in the fifth, but a Green Terror throwing error allowed Spence and Nowell to score a pair of key insurance runs in Etown's half of the frame.

RBI doubles by Jen Geiman and Seward in the seventh inning pulled the visitors within 5-4, but Milnes got January Scott to ground out to end the game.  Milnes, currently tenth in Division III in strikeouts per seven innings, scattered eight hits and allowed only one walk against nine strikeouts to win her sixth game of the season.

In the nightcap, Amy Cipolloni scattered eight hits and went the distance to pull Western Maryland back to the .500-mark.   Leading 5-3 with the bases loaded in the seventh inning, pinch-hitter Katie Swierkos put the game away with a two-out, three-run double that made it 8-3 Western Maryland.

Morris provided one of the day's offensive highlights, cranking a solo home run over the left-centerfield fence in the fourth inning of game two for the first roundtripper of her career.

Kristy Kordich also collected three hits on the afternoon for Etown.  The Blue Jays return to action on Saturday, April 10 with a key MAC Commonwealth League doubleheader at Moravian College.  Game time is 1 p.m.

Katie Swierkos and Courtney Wunderlich; Linda Milnes and Melissa Reinhart. WP: Milnes (6-6). LP: Swierkos (3-4). SO-BB: Swierkos 1-0, Milnes 9-1. 2B: Jen Geiman (W), Stacy Seward (W), Steph Bell (W), Kelly Spence (E), Reinhart (E). 3B: Lauren Henry (W).

Amy Cipolloni and Julie Develin; Angela Moyer, Milnes (4), Kristy Nowell (5) and Reinhart, Vikki Detweiler (5). WP: Cipolloni (5-3). LP: Moyer (2-3). SO-BB: Cipolloni 1-1, Moyer 2-2, Milnes 2-0, Nowell 0-0. 2B: Jacie Mathias (W), Swierkos (W). 3B: Seward (W). HR: Laurie Morris (E).