Brandywine Bests Olivet On Final Day Of Spring Break Trip

LEESBURG, Fla. – The Penn State Brandywine softball team closed out its Spring Break trip with a win and a loss as the Lions scored eight times in the fourth inning to defeat Olivet College 12-4 and dropped a 7-4 decision to RPI.

Game One: Penn State Brandywine 12, Olivet 4

Brandywine faced a 2-0 deficit in the bottom of the first, but Payton Landis (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville) evened the score with one swing, launching her second home run of the season over the left field fence.

The Lions added to their total one frame later as Landis delivered a run-scoring single and Rebecca Sorrentino (Clifton Heights, Pa./Upper Darby) worked a bases-loaded walk to make the score 4-2.

Olivet brought the score even with two runs in the fourth, but Brandywine put the game away by pushing across eight runs during the bottom of the frame.

Brandywine's first seven batters reached base and 13 hitters came to the plate overall during the big inning. Landis and Nikki Velez (Gloucester, N.J./Gloucester City) both walked to force in runs with the bases loaded, while Sorrentino was hit by a pitch with the bases packed to push home another score. Rachel Cherubini (Pottstown, Pa./Pottsgrove), Lianna DeDios (Elmwood Park, N.J./Memorial) and Arden Rabiger (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) all plated runs with RBI singles and two more tallies came via an Olivet error.

Landis had two of Brandywine's six hits, drove in four runs and scored twice, while Cherubini crossed home three times and Fiona Warren (Schwenksville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) scored two runs. Cara Fabiano (Bristol, Pa./Bristol) earned her second win in as many days against Olivet after striking out one and allowing four runs on five hits in 5.0 innings.

Game Two: RPI 7, Penn State Brandywine 4

Brandywine hung tough with an RPI team that owned a 9-1 victory over the Lions, but fell 7-4.

The Engineers scored a run in the first and tacked on four more in the second before Brandywine battled back. Landis homered for the third time in two days in the second and DeDios' groundout allowed Sorrentino to score.

Cherubini singled and scored on Alexandra Szpindor's (Pottstown, Pa./Pope John Paul II) triple in the third, while Velez made the score 5-4 by crossing home via a wild pitch one frame later.

RPI added two runs to its lead in the sixth inning to provide the final count.

Landis went 2-for-2 and reached base safely four times overall after walking twice. She also struck out three and yielded two earned runs in 2.0 innings in the circle. Rebecca Proctor (Cinnaminson, N.J./Cinnaminson) fired two scoreless innings in relief of Szpindor, who took the loss.