BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Catholic softball team entered Sunday's Landmark Conference Championship in need of two wins over Moravian to take home the program's second Landmark title.
GAME ONE - Catholic 1, Moravian 0
The Cardinals had a chance to strike early in the game after
Katie Scolese led the second inning off with a double to left center to put herself into scoring position. She eventually moved up to third on a wild pitch, but the inning ended on a ground out to short to end the threat.
After allowing a hit in each of the first two innings,
Aubrynn Arcement found her groove in the circle as she went three straight innings without allowing a hit with the Greyhounds lone base runner coming on a hit by pitch. She dealt with the winning run being at second base with one out in the bottom of the seventh but forced a pop up and a ground out to send the contest to extra innings.
In the ninth inning, the Cardinals had an opportunity to take the lead with runners on first and second after Scolese doubled once again and
Hayden Hudson drew a walk. The Greyhounds however induced a fly out to center field to put an end to the threat. Kyra Holtje tried to score the game-winning run on an infield single with two outs in the bottom of the inning, but
Kerri Hatcliffe threw a perfect strike to the plate with the tag by
Gianna Samperi to keep the game deadlocked at zero.
The first breakthrough of the game finally came in the top of the 10th after
Elise Faxon picked up a pinch-hit single into left field to put the go-ahead run on base with two outs.
Gabrielle Nanni pinch ran at first base and was brought to the plate when Scolese ripped her third double of the game to the center to put Catholic on top, 1-0. Arcement set the side down in order in the bottom of the inning with three straight ground balls to wrap up the victory and force a winner take all game two.
Arcement's 10 innings pitched was the second-longest outing by a Catholic pitcher in the Landmark Conference tournament and the second time in her career she pitched into extra innings. She also became the first pitcher in program history to pitch multiple complete game shut outs in the same conference tournament.
GAME TWO - Moravian 4, Catholic 2
The scoring started much earlier in game two as Holtje ripped an RBI single to center field to score Natalie Chloros in the top of the first to give Moravian a 1-0 lead. Catholic put two runners on in the bottom of the second after Scolese and Katie
McHugh both notched singles but a 4-6-3 double play got the Greyhounds out of the jam.
The Cardinals broke through in the bottom of the fourth after a lead-off single from
Emma Fleming. Scolese moved her up to second with a single of her own and Arcement cashed in on the opportunity with a double down the left field line to tie the game at one. Holtje kept Catholic from taking the lead however as she stranded both runners in scoring position with back-to-back fly outs.
Moravian immediately took the momentum back in the top of the fifth with three more runs, each coming on home runs between Holtje and Marcie Silberman, to make it a 4-1 game. Catholic trimmed the deficit back down to two in the bottom of the sixth when Hatcliffe came through with a two-out RBI single back up the middle to bring Scolese to the plate, closing the gap to 4-2.
The Cardinals brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh after
Sam Grillo drew a walk but they could not spark a rally and the Greyhounds captured the Landmark Championship. Catholic finished the season with 32 victories, a new program record, and it is the third straight season the program has set a new record for wins in a season.
Scolese finished the season with 19 doubles, the most in a single season in program history and she also set a new career-high in hits during the two games, reaching 52, which is tied for the sixth-most in a season in program history. Her and
Olivia Stinchcomb's 40 RBIs are also tied for the fifth-most in program history in a single season.
Arcement's ERA for the season finished at 1.60 this season over 114 innings, which is the second-lowest single-season ERA in program history, only trailing her own mark in 2023.
Sam Grillo finished just one stolen base shy of tying the program's single-season record with 28, the most by any player since 2000.
