COLLEGE PARK, Md.  — The Catholic softball team came into Saturday looking to continue to string wins together in conference play with a doubleheader against Drew. The Cardinals received two great pitching performances in the games and came up with key hits throughout the day to sweep the Rangers in two closely played games.
 
The Cardinals put together a strong inning at the plate in the bottom of the second, scoring three runs on three hits to take a lead that would stand for the rest of the game. After Elise Faxon reached on an error, Olivia Stinchcomb ripped a double into left center field to put two in scoring position for Katie McHugh. McHugh dropped a single into left field to bring in Faxon and a throwing error from the Rangers allowed Stinchcomb to score and moved McHugh all the way up to third base. Kerri Hatcliffe followed up with an RBI base-hit into left field to push the Catholic lead out to 3-0.

Drew answered back with a run in the top of the third on a base-hit through the left side of the infield to bring in Megan Williams and make it 3-1. Aubrynn Arcement followed up with a quick four-pitch fourth inning to keep the lead at two.

A couple of Catholic errors allowed Drew to pull back within a run in the top of the fifth. Katie Scolese started the bottom of the inning with a single back up the middle to put the lead-off runner on. A walk moved Scolese up to second and Amy Gastright picked up an RBI single into right center to bring in a key insurance run for the Cardinals to make it 4-2. 

Arcement induced three straight ground ball outs in the top of the sixth to set herself up for a complete game win in the top of the seventh. The Rangers recorded a two-out single to bring the tying run to the plate, but Arcement got the batter to fly out to right field to wrap up a 4-2 win and earn her fifth win of the season.
Drew took its first lead of the day in the top of the second inning on an RBI ground out to second base to give the Rangers an early 1-0 lead. The Cardinals loaded up the bases in the bottom of the inning with one out but were unable to come up with a run and remained down one.

Catholic grabbed its first lead of the game in the bottom of the third inning, started off by a Toni Ruley triple into left field. Scolese immediately followed up with a sacrifice fly into left field to bring Ruley in and tie the game up. Back-to-back doubles from Faxon and Stinchcomb brought in the second run of the inning for the Cardinals to give them a 2-1 advantage.

Drew used a run in both the top of the fourth and fifth innings to take the lead back 3-2 in the later innings. MacKenzie Pisani drove in the run in the fourth inning to tie things up and Olivia Magliacano reached on an error with two outs in the fifth to put the Rangers back on top.

Arcement came in as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the sixth and started off the inning with a sharp-hit single into center field to put the tying run on base. With two outs in the inning, an error kept things alive for Catholic to put runners on first and second for Scolese. Scolese came up with the biggest hit of the day, stroking a double into left field to bring in Arcement and Ruley all the way from first to put the Cardinals back on top 4-3. 

Sophia Colangelo shut the door in the seventh inning, punching out a batter and inducing two ground ball outs to short to lock down a 4-3 win and sweep over Drew for Catholic. 

Inside the Box Score

• Amanda Gomez reached a key milestone in her career with two hits over the two games to reach 100 hits in her career. Gomez is hitting .404 on the season with 19 hits in 47 out bats. 
• Arcement and Colangelo each wrapped up the sixth and fifth complete games for them respectively on the season. Colangelo continues to lead the team in wins in the circle this season, notching her eighth win of the year.
• Stinchcomb continues to rack up the extra-base hits on the season with two more doubles and now has 14 extra-base hits out of the 28 she has on the season. Her 10 doubles leads the team and the Landmark Conference this season.

The Cardinals head on the road for a non-conference doubleheader with McDaniel on Tuesday, April 8. First pitch for game one is set for 3 pm at The Green Terror Softball Park.