Lakewood, N.J.- On a day that consisted of 54 hits and 32 combined runs, Georgian Court University prevailed in the mightiest of slugfests, sweeping visiting Holy Family University, 9-7 and 10-6, Wednesday afternoon in a key Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) softball double-dip.

The victories improve the Lions to 7-1 in conference competition (8-18 overall) while the Tigers fall to 5-3 on the year.

GAME ONE

GCU jumped out to a 2-1 advantage after one full inning of action, courtesy of run-inducing singles off the bats of Stefanie Aplin and Kelly Hardiman.

HFU plated two runs in the top of the third on a sacrifice fly and a Georgian Court miscue to go ahead 3-2. The Lions' offense proceeded to explode for six runs on three hits in the bottom of the frame for a commanding 8-3 lead. The mighty blow came off the bat of Meghan Sfraga, a one-out grand slam over the right-center field fence. It marked the second such blast for GCU (JoLei Buonanno) in as many games.

Both teams scored a run each in the fourth inning to make the score 9-4 before the Tigers made things interesting with a three-run sixth frame, cutting the deficit to two.

Abby Merryman went the distance for the Lions in the circle, evening her record at 4-4 on the season. Holy Family freshman hurler Koreen Orozco (Fr.-Whittier, Calif.) dropped to 3-1 with the defeat.

Sfraga (2-for-4), Hardiman (2-for-3, 3 RBI), Buonanno (2-for-4) and Alyssa Paradiso (2-for-3) all enjoyed multi-hit efforts.


GAME TWO

The Lions appeared to be coasting to victory in the nightcap, pouncing on the Tigers for five runs on four hits in the first inning. However, the HFU bats reciprocated with four runs on five hits to slice the GCU lead to 5-4.  

Georgian Court surged with two runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth to take an insurmountable 10-4 advantage. Paradiso's RBI triple in the fifth inning marked the 13th of her collegiate career, breaking the program's mark of 12, set by Rachel Ruch ('09-'12).

Katie Sorochka (4-8) earned the win for the Lions, going 4.2 innings in the contest. Merryman went the final 2.1 innings of action to work GCU's first save of the year.

HFU starter Bailey Walters (So.-Ridgecrest, Calif.) took the loss (2-1).

Hardiman (2-for-4, 2 RBI) and Paradiso (2-for-3, 3 R) completed dazzling days at the bat while Aplin (3-for-4) and Dara Schroeder (2-for-3, 2 R) finished the day strongly.

The Lions will next take on Concordia College in CACC play Thursday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. The doubleheader, originally set to be played in Bronxville, N.Y., will now be hosted by GCU. The Clippers will serve as the "home" team in both contests.