Lakewood, N.J. - With 19 hits on the afternoon, seven of which cleared the outfield wall, Georgian Court University secured its second doubleheader sweep over the last three days as the Lions sent away Goldey-Beacom College, 8-2 and 10-2 (5 inn.), on GCU's SEI Investments Field.
The pair of victories improves the Lions' season mark to 18-13 overall, and 9-3 in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) action.GCU currently resides in fourth-place in the latest CACC standings.
Samantha Reilly (2-for-4, 2 R, 3 RBI) continues to scald the softball as the Lions' slugger put the home team ahead, 2-0, in the first frame of the opener with a long two-run shot to right-center.
Caitlin Hughes' (2-for-3, 2 R, 2 RBI) majestic two-run blast to right-center highlighted a three-run second, putting GCU ahead, 5-0, after two.
Samantha Salomon and Reilly provided back-to-back solo blasts in the home sixth, complemented by a
Mikaela Power (2-for-3) ribbie single, to provide Georgian Court plenty of cushion in the game one triumph.
Taylor Baloga (4-5) went 4.2 innings to earn the pitching victory for GCU (6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB) while
Jessica O'Neil collected her team-leading third save of the season with 2.1 innings of one-hit ball.
The nightcap proved to be a new game, same result type of situation as the Lions plated two runs in the first, six in the second, and another pair in the third to take an insurmountable 10-0 advantage en route to the mercy rule-induced, five-inning win.
Haley Jones kicked off the onslaught with a two-run single up the middle in the first. Hughes (2-for-3, 2 R, 2 RBI) followed that up with a two-run shot to right field in the second inning, which set the stage for a Salomon solo homer, Jones run-inducing base-on-balls, and
Elisa Lopez's two-run double to make the score 8-0 after two full.
Reilly concluded the GCU scoring with a two-run clout in the third, the slugger's third of the day, seventh of the week, and 14th of the year. The junior closes out a week during which she batted .550 (11-for-20) with 12 RBI, 10 runs scored and an eye-popping 1.700 slugging percentage over a six-game stretch.
Marissa Trezza went the distance in the circle, improving her mark to 2-2 with the win (5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K).
The Lions return to action Wednesday afternoon when they host Jefferson at 2:30 p.m. for another key CACC twin-bill.
