ELIZABETHTOWN COLLEGE SOFTBALL
Saturday, May 3, 2008

Late Rally Gives Lebanon Valley 4-3 Win over Etown in Commonwealth Conference Finals

Click here for the Messiah boxscore
Click here for the LVC box score

ANNVILLE, Pa. --- Jessica Salisbury's RBI single with one out in the bottom of the seventh capped a four-run rally and gave Lebanon Valley College a 4-3 victory over Elizabethtown College in the Commonwealth Conference softball championship game on Saturday afternoon.

Salisbury's hit gave the Dutchmen (27-9 overall) their first-ever conference title after three previous losses in the championship game. The Blue Jays (13-24 overall) had advanced to the finals for the first time since 2003 with a 1-0 win in 10 innings over Messiah College earlier in the day.

Elizabethtown, which needed to defeat Lebanon Valley twice in order to claim the championship, held a 3-0 lead entering the bottom of the seventh. Lebanon Valley began its rally with a leadoff double by Caitlin Keller, and one out later consecutive doubles by Katie Freeman and Chelsea Artz brought the Dutchmen to within 3-2.

After a single by Lauren Sanford put runners on the corners, Katie DeJulio singled home Artz to tie the game at 3-3. Following a walk, Salisbury singled to center to drive home Sanford with the winning run.

The comeback spoiled a sensational afternoon by Blue Jay starting pitcher Alex Lee (Emmaus, PA/Emmaus), who had thrown 16 consecutive scoreless innings on the day before the Dutchmen's comeback.

In addition, she provided Elizabethtown with its runs on a three-run home run in the top of the fifth inning. The blast was the first and only hit of her career in 17 at-bats.

Lebanon Valley finished with an 11-3 edge in hits in the contest, as Salisbury went 3-for-4 and Artz and DeJulio each finished 2-for-3.

Laura Snyder (14-2) earned the win for the Dutchmen, striking out 11 and walking three, while Lee (11-13) fanned two and walked three in her final career appearance. She departs as the program's career leader in games pitched (103), starts (89), complete games (83), innings pitched (615 2/3) and strikeouts (488).

Elizabethtown advanced to the title game with a 1-0 win in 10 innings over Messiah, on a walk-off RBI single by sophomore Ryan Allard (Londonderry, NH/Londonderry).

Lee went the distance in the win for the Blue Jays, allowing five hits while striking out five. Jessica Climenhaga took the loss for the Falcons (22-21 overall), allowing two hits in 2 2/3 innings in relief of Megan Rice, who struck out nine and allowed three hits in 6 2/3 innings.

The winning rally started as junior Holly Martin (Elizabethtown, PA/Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk, NY) led off with a walk and was lifted for junior pinch-runner Amanda Gordon (Vernon, NJ/Vernon Township).

Lee sacrificed Gordon to second, and she advanced to third on a wild pitch. Allard then singled to left to drive home Gordon with the winning run.

The Blue Jays had chances to win the game in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, but stranded a runner in scoring position in the seventh and left runners on second and third in the ninth.

The Falcons left two runners on base to end the seventh, and put runners on second and third with two outs in the eighth but could not score.

Allard finished 3-for-5 to account for three of the Blue Jays' five hits in the game, while Amy Bowie went 2-for-4 for the Falcons.

Commonwealth Conference Softball Tournament
at Lebanon Valley College

Elizabethtown Coll. 1, Messiah College 0
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Messiah College..... 000 000 000 0 - 0 5 3 (22-21)
Elizabethtown Coll.. 000 000 000 1 - 1 5 0 (13-23)
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Megan Rice, Jessica Climenhaga (7) and Amy Bowie; Alex Lee and Abbie Merrifield. WP-Lee (11-12). LP-Climenhaga (9-7). SO-BB: Rice 9-7, Climenhaga 3-2; Lee 5-2.

Championship game
Lebanon Valley Coll. 4, Elizabethtown College 3
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Elizabethtown Coll.. 000 030 0 - 3 3 0 (13-24)
Lebanon Valley Coll. 000 000 4 - 4 11 0 (27-9)
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Alex Lee and Abbie Merrifield; Laura Snyder and Jessica Salisbury. WP-Snyder (14-2). LP-Lee (11-13). SO-BB: Lee 2-3; Snyder 11-3. HR-Lee (E).