Softball News

AGGIES SWEEP MANHATTANVILLE, CLINCH THIRD SEED IN PLAYOFFS
Second Straight Year In The Postseason

DOYLESTOWN (PA) - Delaware Valley College is headed to the Freedom Conference playoffs for the second year in a row as the Aggies finished regular-season league play with a doubleheader sweep of visiting Manhattanville College, 3-2 and 6-0.

Saturday's sweep upped Delaware Valley's overall record to 15-17 and the Aggies also set a new school record with seven wins in a row. More importantly, they finished 7-5 and in third place in the Freedom Conference. It marks the first time in program history that they will head to the conference championships in two consecutive years.

After they conclude the regular season with Monday's home non-conference twinbill with Gwynedd-Mercy, the Aggies will prepare for their battle with defending conference champion and second-seeded King's College in the first round of the double elimination tournament. The matchup will take place on Friday, May 2 (1:00 p.m.) at the Wilkes University Softball Complex and will be preceded by the No. 1 DeSales University/No. 4 FDU-Florham contest at 11:00 a.m. The Freedom Conference champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs.

Delaware Valley needed just one win on Saturday to seal a postseason berth and Bethany Pavlik provided the offense in the opener. She hit a solo home run to left-center field in the third inning and then went to the opposite field and nearly hit the scoreboard in right-center for a two-run bomb in the fourth. The two round-trippers tied a single-game school record and it also upped the sophomore's season total to seven, tying her with teammate Nicole Dorney (7 in 2005) for that mark. Pavlik finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored and the three RBIs in the contest.

Senior pitcher Jennifer Bummer took care of the rest as she improved her record to 8-8 on the year. She allowed just two runs and five hits while fanning four to break her own single-season strikeout record (73).

Manhattanville (15-23, 4-8) pulled to within 3-2 with single runs in the fifth and sixth innings. The Valiants still had two on with two outs in the sixth before Bummer got a ground out to end the threat. In the seventh, the first two batters popped out, but the next batter reached on an Aggie error. However Bummer induced a ground out to third to end the game and officially clinch the playoff spot.

In the nightcap, senior Kirstyn Ruhling notched her second straight shutout, this time a five-hit gem. She walked one and struck out two while picking up her fifth win of the year.

Senior Kelly Andrews added to the Senior Day festivities by smacking her fourth home run of the season, a solo shot in the second inning. The Aggies used the long ball again in the fifth as sophomore Brittany Stockert led off the stanza with her third home run of the year.

Delaware Valley then put the game away with four runs in the sixth, highlighted by Lacy Miles' two-run single. Miles went 2-for-3 with the two RBIs while Andrews was a perfect 3-for-3 with two runs scored and one RBI.