Felician Athletics - 4/5/08 SOFTBALL - Felician Sweeps Chestnut Hill -- Quickly

PHILADELPHIA - Senior Dara DeSocio (Cliffside Park, NJ) and junior Nicole Broecker (Staten Island, NY) each pitched four-hit shutouts as the Felician college softball team swept a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference doubleheader from host Chestnut Hill College, 2-0 and 3-0, on Saturday afternoon at CHC Field. The twinbill took barely more than two-and-a-half hours to complete, including the time between games.

All of the offense in Game 1 came in the top of the fourth inning. Freshman Lauren DeGrushe (Guttenberg, NJ) drew a leadoff walk, was sacrified to second base, and scored on Rebecca Dodd's (Oakland, NJ) single to right field. One out later, Dodd came home on a fielding error.

DeSocio (3-4) escaped two late jams to preserve the victory. In the fifth, with runners on first and third and one out, catcher Heather Van Dyke (West Milford, NJ) threw out a would-be base stealer before DeSocio induced a pop-up. Chestnut Hill loaded the bases after one batter was out in the seventh, but the next hitter grounded back to DeSocio. She threw home for the force, and Van Dyke turned a game-ending double play. DeSocio struck out two and walked one in her first shutout of the season. Kaitlin McKeever (Mechanicville, NY) (3-11) lost despite throwing a two-hitter for the Griffins (5-21, 2-7).

Felician (9-12, 4-4) jumped on top, 2-0, in the first inning of Game 2 when DeGrushe single home Van Dyke and later scored on an error. CHC never had two baserunners in the same inning off of Broecker (3-5), who struck out eight, walked none, and added an RBI double in the seventh. Hope Van Dyke (West Milford, NJ) and Sherry Flynn (Oakland, NJ) had two hits apiece for the Golden Falcons, and Ashley Corcoran (Beverly, NJ) tripled for the Griffins.

Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box