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Drew University Athletics

Stephanie Burns
1
Elms ECSB 0-3
2
Winner Drew DREW-SB 1-0
Elms ECSB
0-3
1
Final
2
Drew DREW-SB
1-0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Elms ECSB 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 1
Drew DREW-SB 0 0 0 2 0 0 X 2 7 3

W: O'Leary, Cara (1-0) L: Lunardi, Lisa (0-3)

0
Penn State Altoona ALTW 2-2
7
Winner Drew DREW-SB 2-0
Penn State Altoona ALTW
2-2
0
Final
7
Drew DREW-SB
2-0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Penn State Altoona ALTW 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Drew DREW-SB 0 3 3 1 0 0 X 7 12 1

W: Burns, Stephanie (1-0) L: Barnett, Faith (1-1)

Game Recap: Softball |

Rangers Start Season With Two Victories

NAPLES, Fla. – For the Drew University softball team, the start of the Erica Mehalick Era could not have gone much better.  The Rangers' new head coach led her team to a pair of victories on the first day of the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic at North Collier Park.  After knocking off Elms (0-3) by a 2-1 count, Drew improved to 2-0 for the first time since 2008 with a 7-0 triumph over Penn State Altoona (2-2).
 
In the Rangers' first game of the day, Elms got on the board first when Lisa Lunardi ripped a bases-loaded single up the middle in the top of the second.  The Blazers tried to add another on the play, but the runner was thrown out at home to end the inning.
 
After leaving the bases loaded in the bottom of the third, Drew broke through for a pair of runs in the fourth.  Katie Grodski (Mepham, N.Y.) led off the inning with a double to the wall in left, then Michelle Nestor (Hazlet, N.J.) reached on an error and Victoria Avella (North Bergen, N.J.) singled to load the bases.  That brought up pitcher Cara O'Leary (Staten Island, N.Y.), and she helped her own cause with an RBI base hit to left.  The Rangers then took the lead when Brooke Adams (Cedar Grove, N.J.) lifted a sacrifice fly to center.
 
That would prove to be all the offense O'Leary needed.  She retired the last six Elms hitters after a leadoff single in the sixth.  O'Leary (1-0) tossed a complete game seven-hitter, giving up just one run, while striking out two and walking one.  She also went 2-for-3 at the plate with the game-tying RBI.  Lauren Mastropierro (Randolph, N.J.) added two hits out of the leadoff spot, and Adams finished 1-for-2 with an RBI.
 
The Blazers' Tyla Risucci reached base all three times on a walk and two singles, while Catharine Wrang also had two hits.  Elizabeth Olszewski, meanwhile, went 1-for-4 with an RBI.  In addition to going 1-for-3 with an RBI, Lunardi (0-3) got the start in the circle and took the loss.  She yielded two runs (one earned) on six hits, struck out three and walked three over five innings.  Raeanna Tumel allowed a hit and recorded a strikeout in the sixth.
 
Against Penn State Altoona, the Rangers tallied three runs in the second and three more in the third.  Meghan Beyer (North Arlington, N.J.) started the second-inning rally with a leadoff single to right.  She later scored on Jasmine Vera's (Dumont, N.J.) triple to right.  After Mastropierro walked and stole second, putting runners on second and third with two out, Adams drove them both in with a base hit to right.
 
Adriana Rodriguez (Turnersville, N.J.) led off the third with a single through the right side, then stole second before Beyer walked.  After the runners moved up on a groundout, Vanessa Villahermosa (Woodbridge, N.J.) ripped a single to right that made it 4-0 Rangers.  Vera then increased that advantage to 6-0 with her second triple in as many innings.  Drew would add another one in the fourth, as Adams led off the inning with a bloop double, and Heather Ronchi (Leonia, N.J.) knocked her in with a two-bagger of her own.
 
Drew's Stephanie Burns (Bellmore, N.Y.), meanwhile, was cruising in the circle.  The only real trouble she faced was in the top of the third when the Lions put runners on first and third with nobody out.  However, Nestor picked off a runner at third for the first out, then, after a walk, Burns induced a groundout and a fly ball to get out of the inning unscathed.
 
Penn State Altoona didn't get a runner past second base after that, and the only other hit Burns allowed was a one-out single in the sixth.  In her first collegiate start, Burns (1-0) pitched her first collegiate shutout.  She gave up just two hits and three walks while recording a pair of strikeouts.
 
Offensively, Vera led the way with her two triples.  She also had a single to finish 3-for-3 with a run scored and three RBIs.  Ronchi ended up 3-for-4 with an RBI, while Adams was 2-for-3 with a run scored and two RBIs.  Beyer scored twice for the Rangers, who collected a total of 12 hits off Penn State Altoona pitching.
 
Singles by Haley Giedroc and Cassidy Stover represented the Lions' only two hits in the contest.  Faith Barnett (1-1) started in the circle for the Lions and took the loss.  She was charged with six runs on eight hits while walking two and striking out one.  Emily Strouse registered a strikeout over her 3.1 innings of one-run, four-hit relief.
 
On Monday, the Rangers will face Rivier (0-2) at 9 a.m. before taking on NJCU (0-2) at 11 a.m.
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