MENTOR, Ohio - In a rescheduled Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) doubleheader, the Malone University softball team swept Lake Erie College 8-1 and 5-2. The Pioneers move to 24-14 overall and 9-9 in league action while the Storm fall to 2-28 and 1-17 inside the G-MAC.
 
GAME ONE RECAP:
Both teams were held scoreless until the third inning when Marlee Pireu and Sidney Conti drove in runs with singles. Halyn Cawthorne added a run in the fourth with a single up the middle, but a homerun for Lake Erie made it 3-1 just passed the halfway point in the game.
 
Malone doubled their scoring output in the top of the sixth with three runs coming with two outs. Jessie Crookston drew a bases loaded walk and then Mia Rose scored two with a single to go up 6-1. Cawthorne blasted a two-out, two-run homerun in the top of the seventh to further increase the lead to 8-1.
 
The pitcher Rose (13-8) was able to retire the side in order in the seventh to complete the game and nab the win. She struck out 11 and allowed one run on seven hits in the contest. Cawthorne reached base four times, with three hits, three RBIs and three runs scored and she reached on balls. Rose reached in all four plate appearances as well with two hits and two walks. Conti and Aricka Young had two hits apiece.
 
GAME TWO RECAP:
Lake Erie was able to get on the board first in game two with a pair of runs in the first. An error helped set the table for Malone to answer with two of their own in the top of the second. Masyn Baker drove in a run on a groundout and Madi Pukansky lifted a sacrifice fly to left.
 
The Pioneers went up 3-2 in the third on a Conti double and that score would remain until the sixth inning. Conti doubled once again to lead off that inning, then Young singled and Amber Miller drew a walk to lead the bases with zero outs. This time it was Baker that recorded the sacrifice fly to go up 4-2 and later in the inning, Pireu beat out an infield single that scored one more.
 
After early struggles, Baker (7-3) was able to go all seven innings and keep the Storm to just the two runs given up in the first. The southpaw struck out 11 in the circle. Conti had both extra-base hits for the team as well as two of the six total hits. Pireu had a multi-hit game as well at 2-for-3.
 
UP NEXT:
Conference play continues for Malone at Ursuline College on Tuesday, April 21 beginning at 3:00 P.M.