Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 ALLENTOWN, Pa. (April 9, 2014) – For the third time this season, the Drew University softball team dug down to win Game 2 of a doubleheader to avoid the sweep.
 
On Wednesday afternoon, junior starting pitcher Laura D'Ornellas' gem helped the Rangers to a 4-1 win and a split of a twin bill at Muhlenberg College. The Mules won Game 1, 9-0, in five innings after scoring all of their runs in the first two frames.
 
D'Ornellas helped Drew respond in Game 2 by throwing a complete-game five-hitter, allowing one run with no walks and five strikeouts. The junior also added a hit, going 1-for-3 at the plate during her start.
 
"Laura pitched an amazing game; she was the difference between the two games," said head coach Charlotte Labate. "She hit her spots. Her change up was good, she had them staring at her curveball, and she got a lot of pop ups. She mixed pitches and she kept them on their toes. We finally hit the ball behind her and made them work in the field. In the first game we were hitting routine outs."
 
D'Ornellas retired the first 11 Mules to open the game, and didn't allow a second hit until the sixth inning.
 
The Mules are now 17-5, while the Rangers' record moves to 13-9 overall with the doubleheader split on the road. Labate is hoping the style in which her squad won in Game 2 will become a habit.
 
"No walks and no errors," the head coach said. "We can get used to that."
 
Freshman shortstop Meghan McGuire broke out of a slump at the plate with a 3-for-3 showing in Game 2 and scored the eventual game-winning run in the fifth inning. Junior centerfielder Antoinette Tovar was 1-for-1 with two RBIs, one on her infield single and another on a bases loaded walk in the sixth.
 
The Rangers' bats awoke quickly in the second game after managing just four hits in Game 1. Junior catcher Rebecca Hutsebaut, whose eight-game hit streak came to an end in the first game against the Mules, and junior third baseman Kate McNamara put together back-to-back two-out hits in the top of the first. The Ranger duo was stranded, but Drew was not far from breaking through.
 
Sophomore second baseman Kristin Zeigler led off the second with a walk, and after McGuire's first hit of the game moved her to third, Tovar's legged out an infield RBI single to plate Ziegler for the 1-0 lead.
 
With McGuire and Tovar on base in the top of the fifth with no outs, freshman right fielder Phylicia Pellot executed the sacrifice bunt to move the runners, allowing senior designated player Lexie Forsell's groundout to score McGuire for a 2-0 advantage. The Rangers led 3-0 a batter later thanks to an unearned run.
 
Drew added a fourth run an inning later after consecutive singles by Ziegler, D'Ornellas and McGuire. Tovar recorded the RBI by drawing the walk with the bases full of Rangers.
 
Muhlenberg strung together three straight hits off D'Ornellas in their last licks in the seventh. One run scored on the third hit, and Tovar prevented a second from scoring with the outfield assist from center. D'Ornellas capped the victory with her fifth strikeout of the game.
 
In Game 2, Ziegler went 2-for-2 at the plate and freshman pitcher Casey Zdanek threw 2.1 innings of scoreless relief, but the Mules did enough damage early in the contest to coast to a 9-0 victory in five innings.
 
Muhlenberg scored five in the first, and followed with four more in the second inning.
 
Drew had its doubleheader with Richard Stockton College originally scheduled for Thursday postponed with no make up date announced at this time. The Rangers host a Landmark Conference doubleheader on Saturday, April 12 against The Catholic University of America beginning at 1 p.m.