BOX SCORE (Game One)
BOX SCORE (Game Two)

Monday March 3, 2008 (Orlando, FL) - Alvernia softball got their first wins of the season over fellow Pennsylvanians Thiel College today at Disney's Wide World of Sports.  Junior Emily Williams (Minersville, PA/Nativity) got the win in the first game allowing just three hits over seven innings of work and freshman MIchelle Jensen (Holland, NJ/Delaware Valley) captured the second game after holding Thiel scoreless through five innings.  Alvernia is now 2-1 on the season.

Game one saw Alvernia break the game open and score all three of their runs in the third inning.  Freshman outfielder Lisa James (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Wood) started the rally with a lead-off single.  Fellow freshman outfielder Leah Crimi (Nazareth, PA/Notre Dame) followed with another single, and Rhiannon Sorrentino (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) successfully sacrificed James and Crimi ahead one base.  The freshman attack continued as center fielder Dina Chiappelli (Shippensburg, PA/Shippensburg Area) doubled to left centerfield to plate James and Crimi for Alvernia's first two runs of the game.  Senior Jackie Rhoads (Dillsburg, PA/Northern York) pushed one more across with a single up the middle.  A 6-4-3 double play by Thiel would put an end to the Crusaders' rally, but their three runs would be more than enough to secure the victory. 

Thiel had only one runner reach second base in the last four innings of the game and Williams would retire them in order over the final three innings to hold onto the 3-0 victory.

The second game of the doubleheader saw Alvernia once again rally in the third inning, this time sending all nine batters to the plate and scoring four runs.  Sophomore Janelle Lynch (Macungie, PA/Brandywine) started the rally with a walk and Rhoads quickly followed with another single up the middle.  After senior Beth Jablonowski (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Ryan) was hit by a pitch, freshman Michele Kassab (Pompton Lakes, NJ/Pompton Lakes) knocked in Lynch with a single.  Two walks and one fielder's choice later Alvernia had pushed across four runs for a convincing early game lead.

The Crusaders added two more runs in the fourth inning with another Rhoads single and RBIs from freshman Kassab and Jensen.  The sixth inning saw Alvernia capitalize on three Thiel errors and score another two runs after Kassab led off with a single.

Thiel would finally strike in the sixth inning when relief pitcher Ashley Leonhard (Bernville, PA/Tulpehocken) walked her first two batters faced.  A wild pitch and a fielder's choice later Thiel scored their first run and another wild pitch would plate their second.  Leonhard settled down giving up only one more run in the seventh inning to secure the 9-3 win.  
        
Alvernia 3, Thiel 0
Alvernia 9, Thiel 3