Wednesday, March 14, 2012
by Robert Audia

CLERMONT, Fla.—The Alderson-Broaddus Lady Battlers softball team fell to Mercy College, 4-2, at the National Training Center on Thursday afternoon.

The Lady Battlers (4-8) scored first, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the 2^nd despite not registering a single hit. A pair of walks and a fielding error allowed Mary Mayer to score for A-B. However, Mercy (4-2) quickly responded, as the Lady Mavericks played small ball, using a pair of sacrifices to advance Jessica Doria- who reached on a walk to lead off the inning- into scoring position, setting up a Shelby Johnson RBI-single to tie the score at 1-1. Mercy took a 2-1 lead in the 3^rd on an unearned run and extended their lead to 3-1 on a Jacquelyn Couillard home run to lead off the 4^th.

A bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 5^th pushed the Mercy lead to 4-1, and a Chrissy Cleary single brought two more runners home, giving the Lady Mavericks a 6-1 lead through five.

After a scoreless 6^th inning, the Lady Battlers maid some noise in the 7^th, getting back-to-back two-out RBI hits from Kharrisa Renoth and Kat Powell to close the gap to 6-3, but they would get no closer as Mercy pitcher Mary Sieber got her seventh strikeout to end the game.

Vanessa Bodily (1-2) took the loss on the mound for the Lady Battlers, allowing six runs (five earned) on seven hits while walking five and striking out three. Ali Neace pitched the final inning in relief, striking out two of the four batters she faced. Renoth led the A-B offense by going 2-4 with an RBI.

Sieber earned the victory for Mercy, allowing just five hits and three runs (two earned) while striking out seven. Shannon Forbes led the Lady Mavericks with two hits.