Moon Township, Pa. – The
Robert Morris University softball team won a one-run game and a blowout to sweep Northeast Conference foe Wagner as the Colonials celebrated Senior Day in style Sunday at an overcast North Athletic Complex.
RMU held on for a 3-2 win in the opener before running away with a 15-1 decision in five innings in the nightcap.
With the victories and other results in the league, the Colonials moved into sole possession of first place in the NEC.
RMU put forth a group attack offensively that saw six Colonials reach base safely at least three times on the day. Robert Morris' 15 runs in the nightcap were its most in a game in over five years while its 14 hits in the second game tied a season best.
Junior
Kristen Gabelt led RMU by reaching five times on the day against the Seahawks. She finished a combined 3-for-5 with two walks, a double, a steal and two runs scored. She posted her 11th multi-hit game of the season in the opener, the 22nd of her career, before contributing her eighth two-bagger of the season, the 15th of her career, in the nightcap.
Senior
Samantha Santillo went 3-for-5 Sunday with a double, three RBI and a run scored. In the nightcap, she contributed her fourth multi-hit outing of 2015, the 26th of her career, while adding her first three-RBI effort of the season, which was the sixth of her career.
Junior
Ashley Gerhart homered for the second straight day en route to a 3-for-7 performance against the Seahawks that featured three RBI, two steals and two runs. She notched her third three-hit game of the season in the nightcap, the 10th of her career, while tallying a three-RBI game for the second straight day.
While the day ended in comfortable fashion for the Colonials, the opening game of the day was a tense affair that was in doubt till the end.
Each team went in order in the first inning.
Wagner had an opening in the second after a Colonial throwing miscue, but senior
Nicole Sleith retired the next two batters on a groundout and a fly out to prevent the Seahawks from taking advantage.
RMU went in order on three groundouts in the home half of the second.
Wagner had a runner reach via error with two away in the third, but Sleith got the next batter to ground out.
After the Colonials went 1-2-3 in the third, Wagner scored the game's first run in the fourth. A one-out solo homer to left forced Robert Morris to play from behind in the opening game of a doubleheader for the second straight day.
RMU answered the Seahawk tally in the home half, and it started with a single by sophomore
Jordan Gurganus. After two outs were made, Robert Morris went to work as senior
Tess Apke and Gabelt singled to load the bases. Freshman
Olivia Lorusso then came through in a key spot as her single to left brought home a pair of runs to pull RMU ahead.
Sleith retired the Seahawks in order in the fifth on two groundouts and a strikeout.
Santillo singled to center to begin the fifth and was promptly sacrificed to second by sophomore
Stacey Capp. With two outs, pinch-runner
Lauren Hackett would come home to score after a Wagner error. Junior
Haileigh Stocks walked on a full count to try and restart a rally but would be left on base.
A one-out double and a two-out single brought the Seahawks within a run in the sixth. Another two-out base hit then put the tying run on third, but Sleith dug in and got a groundout to Capp to keep RMU in front.
Gabelt singled to left with one out in the home half, stole second with two outs and then moved to third on a wild pitch, but she would not make it all the way around.
Sleith did not let Wagner mount a rally in the seventh as she struck out the first two batters swinging before Gerhart caught a fly ball in center to complete the victory.
Sleith tossed a five-hitter in the complete-game win without walking or hitting a batter.
While RMU had to scratch and claw its way to a win in the opener, that was anything but the case in the second game. Every Colonial starter had at least one hit and one run in the contest while eight of the nine reached base safely twice.
A Seahawk posted a leadoff single to open the game and then stole second. Sleith retired the next two batters before a walk put two on base. Sleith then got the next batter to pop up on the infield for the third out.
Robert Morris blew the game wide open in the home half of the first by scoring eight times as it posted five hits and three walks in the frame. Gerhart, Apke, senior
Alexis Schwartzmiller, Santillo and Gurganus posted base hits in the inning while Gabelt, Capp and Stocks took bases on balls.
Wagner posted a leadoff single and a two-out single in the second, but RMU cut down the trail runner trying to take an extra base on the second base hit as Santillo fired down to Capp who applied the tag.
Lorusso blasted a solo homer to center with two away in the second, and Schwartzmiller and Santillo then knocked back-to-back doubles to add two runs to the hosts' line.
A leadoff single, a groundout that advanced the runner and a two-out single scored Wagner's lone run of the game in the third. Stocks limited the damage by striking out a Seahawk with the bases loaded.
The Colonials would continue to add on in the bottom half. Gurganus and Stocks singled to begin the inning before Gerhart crushed a pitch well over the fence in left center. Apke was then hit by a pitch, Gabelt followed with a walk and Hackett walked two outs later to load the bases. Capp drove in a run with a single before Schwartzmiller scored an unearned tally after a Seahawk miscue.
Stocks retired the side in order in the fourth on a lineout and two foul outs on the infield.
Gerhart singled and Gabelt doubled in the fourth, but no Colonial would cross the plate.
Stocks scattered three hits in the fifth but would not allow a run as a groundout to short ended the contest.
Gurganus' team-leading 16th multi-hit effort of 2015, the 29th of her career, not only allowed her to reach 100 career hits but also extended her hitting streak to 14 games, the longest by a Colonial since 2011. She scored three runs in a game for the second time this season while netting her third multi-RBI outing of 2015, the fifth of her career.
Gerhart's fifth homer of the season, the 12th of her career, was part of her 13th multi-hit performance of 2015, which was the 36th of her career. Gerhart, who now has posted multiple hits in six of the past eight games, contributed her team-leading seventh multi-RBI effort of the season, which was the 15th of her career.
Apke moved into sixth place in RMU's all-time hits (173) category Sunday and also slid into sole possession of fourth place in career RBI (93).
Schwartzmiller, who scored a career-high three runs in the nightcap, tallied her seventh multi-hit game of the season and 13th of her career. She doubled for the second straight day, giving her six on the season and 13 in her career.
Santillo's sixth double of the season, and 18th of her career, helped her notch her third multi-RBI outing of 2015, which was the 17th of her career.
Lorusso's long ball was her fourth of the season and allowed her to notch her fourth multi-RBI effort of her rookie campaign.
Stocks got the win in the nightcap by allowing a lone run while striking out three in three innings.
RMU's current 10-game winning streak in conference games is its longest such stretch since 2002. The Colonials also finished perfect in NEC home games for the first time since 2005.
Robert Morris will play four road doubleheaders to finish the season, the first of which will come this Wednesday as it faces non-league foe Kent State at 3:00 p.m.
