Brandywine Routs Beaver To Stay Alive In USCAA World Series

DUBOIS, Pa. – No. 10 Penn State Brandywine battered No. 4 Penn State Beaver pitching for 16 hits as the Lions staved off elimination at the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Softball World Series, winning 12-4, on Tuesday morning.

Brandywine, which eliminated Beaver from the tournament for the third time in the last four years, scored twice in the first inning after Alyssa Sullivan (Pennsburg, Pa./Upper Perkiomen) tripled in Rachel Cherubini (Pottstown, Pa./Pottsgrove) with two outs and then scored on a Beaver fielding error.

Brandywine tacked on five more runs in the third, using a RBI single Nikki Velez (Gloucester, N.J./Gloucester City), an error and a pair of suicide squeeze bunts by Haley Grossi (Monmouth Junction, N.J./South Brunswick) and Maddie Malfara (Ardsley, Pa./Abington). The lead expanded to 10-1 following Grossi's fifth-inning RBI single and a two-run double by Morgan Meoli (Woolwich Twp, N.J./Kingsway Regional) one frame later.

Beaver pulled within 10-4 after six innings, but two run-scoring groundouts by Cherubini and Arianna Segich (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City) padded the margin for Brandywine during the Lions' final at-bat.

Six Lions collected at least two hits as Brandywine's offense recorded its second-highest hit total of the season. Cherubini was 4-for-5 with an RBI at the plate, while Fiona Warren (Schwenksville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) delivered three hits and scored twice.

Velez's pair of knocks gave her 100 for her career, making her the seventh player in Brandywine history to hit the mark.

Meoli and Grossi both tallied two hits and drove in two, while Sullivan was 2-for-4 and scored three times in support of Cara Fabiano (Bristol, Pa./Bristol). Fabiano, who beat Beaver for the second time in nine days, upped her record to 13-8 this spring. She limited the Beaver offense to five hits and one unearned run over five innings and did not walk a batter.

Brandywine (24-17) will be back in action Tuesday night against No. 9 Judson in another elimination game beginning at 8:00 pm.