Lakewood, N.J. -
Samantha Reilly and
Marissa Trezza clubbed back-to-back home runs in consecutive innings to highlight Sunday's first-game blanking of visiting Concordia College as the Lions proceeded to sweep the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference twin-bill from the Clippers.
The pair of wins improves GCU to a conference-best 20-5 on the year (5-1 CACC) while Concordia sinks to 5-7 (1-3 CACC).
GAME ONE
Reilly (3-for-3, 4 RBI) and Trezza's (2-for-3, 2 RBI) back-to-back jacks in both the first and second innings of the opening contest accounted for six of the Lions' nine tallies in the 9-0, five-inning shutout of the Clippers. With her two long balls, Reilly now sits one dinger away from tying
Heather Walker ('08) for Georgian Court's career home run mark of 43.
Jessica O'Neil moved to 7-1 on the year in the circle for GCU as the senior starting pitcher scattered two hits and a walk (1 K) in three innings of action.
Ashley Walsh (So.-Scranton, Pa.) took the loss for Concordia (4.0 IP, 10 H, 9 R, 5 ER, K).
GAME TWO
In the nightcap, the Clippers attacked first as a
Carly Berezny (Fr.-Oxford, N.J.) solo homer in the third put the visitors up by one. Georgian Court proceeded to plate eight unanswered runs over the next three frames to take a seemingly-commanding 8-1 surplus after five full.
Not going down without a fight, Concordia countered with an
Ashdon Clark (Fr.-Gouldsboro, Pa.) three-run blast, and a ribbie single by
Carly Acuna (So.-North Hills, Calif.), to slice the deficit to 8-5.
Caitlin Hughes (2-for-4, 3 R, 2 RBI) made sure the Lions' lead remained safe as the sophomore smashed her first long ball of the season, a towering shot to right, bring home Georgian Court's ninth-and-final tally of the eventual 9-5 win.
Eryka Springer went deep for the fifth time in just 27 at-bats this season as the junior slugger crunched an opposite-field solo shot to left field in the fourth. A
Samantha Salomon run-inducing triple, and a three-run wallop from Trezza, highlighted a four-run fifth frame for the victors. Trezza, with three overall dingers on the day, now owns six big flies on the year.
Mikayla Gilgert (8-3) earned the pitching victory for GCU as the freshman permitted three runs (3 ER) on five hits and a walk (4 K) over 5.2 innings pitched. O'Neil returned for an encore performance with 1.1 innings of one-hit relief to receive her second save on the year.
Mackenna Powell (Jr.-Milford, Pa.) dropped to 2-4 for Concordia with the setback (6.0 IP, 11 H, 9 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 4 K).
The Lions return to action Wednesday with a CACC home double-dip vs. the University of the Sciences. First pitch is set for 2:30 p.m.
