Felician Athletics - 3/31/08 SOFTBALL - DeGrushe Homer Gives Felician Split With HFU

PHILADELPHIA – A three-run third-inning homerun by freshman Lauren DeGrushe (Guttenberg, NJ/High Tech) carried Felician College to a 3-2 Game 2 victory and a split of its Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference softball doubleheader with host Holy Family University on Monday afternoon at Tiger Field. Felician was no-hit in dropping the opener, 3-0.

In the nightcap, senior Katie Spera (Lanoka Harbor, NJ/Lacey Township) led off the visitors’ half of the third with a single. One out later, Heather Van Dyke (West Milford, NJ/West Milford) singled, and DeGrushe then broke a scoreless tie with her second homer of the season. Holy Family reached Felician starter Dara DeSocio (Cliffside Park, NJ/Paramus Catholic) (2-4) for an unearned run in the fifth inning, setting up an exciting seventh.

HFU pitcher Angela DeBeneditto (Forest Hill, MD/John Carroll) (0-4) escaped a second-and-third, none-out jam in the top of the seventh inning to keep her team’s deficit at 3-1. The Tigers then placed runners on second and third with one out in the bottom half. All of the runners were safe on a Lauren Armstrong (Williamstown, NJ/Williamstown) infield grounder, but DeSocio would induce a lineout and a strikeout to secure the victory, as the Tigers stranded nine baserunners for the game. Spera finished 2 for 3 for Felician, and Dolores Brown (Croydon, PA/Truman) had two hits for HFU.

Tiger sophomore Jody Searfoss (Weatherly, PA/Marion Catholic) (4-3) pitched a no-hitter in Game 1, striking out six batters and walking two. HFU scored all three of its runs in the bottom of the third inning, aided by two Felician errors. Brown drove in the first run with a bases-loaded walk, and Searfoss and Francesca Garzio (Hamilton, NJ/Steinert) had run-scoring singles.

Nicole Broecker (Staten Island, NY/Moore Catholic) (1-5) took the hard-luck loss for Felician (6-11, 2-4), yielding one earned run on five hits in six innings. Van Dyke saw her 13-game hitting streak snapped by the Searfoss gem.

Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box