Knutson's Homer Not Enough as Blue Hens Fall To La Salle, 5-1, on First Day of Delaware Spring Invitational
March 16, 2012
• La Salle-Delaware Boxscore
• Norfolk State-Villanova Boxscore
NEWARK, Del. -- Megan Hodgson hit a three-run homer while Alicia Aughton allowed just one run in the circle as the La Salle University softball team defeated the University of Delaware, 5-1, Friday afternoon at the Delaware Softball Stadium to open the First Annual Delaware Spring Invitational.
The Explorers (3-10) got on the board in the top of the first inning when Breanna DiTommaso singled up the middle, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a single to left by Shannon Skomorucha. La Salle added a run in the second when Linnette Siedler legged out an infield single and came around to score when Liz Reed hit a one-out triple to rightcenter. However Kathleen Conway then replaced Hannah Rust in the circle for the Blue Hens and retired the next two Explorers batters to escape further damage.
The Blue Hens (3-20) got a run back in the bottom of the second when junior rightfielder Gina Knutson (at right) led off by blasting a pitch over the leftfield fence for her second home run of the season.
La Salle maintained its one-run lead until the top of the fifth, when Reed worked a leadoff walk and DiTommaso singled to center with one out. Hodgson then followed by drilling a three-run homer over the fence in centerfield to give the Explorers a 5-1 cushion.
The Blue Hens got a leadoff single to right by Mary O’Reilly in the fifth and a one-out single up the middle by Knutson in the sixth, but were not able to push across another run.
Aughton allowed just one run on five hits while walking one and striking out one to improve to 3-3 on the season. Rust took the loss for Delaware after giving up two runs on four hits in 1.1 frames, while Conway was charged with three runs on four hits in 5.2 innings while recording eight strikeouts.
Knutson finished 2 for 3 for Delaware, while Jess Grisler, Alicea Coy and O’Reilly had the other Blue Hen hits.
In the second game of the invitational, Molly Manning and Caitlyn Delahaba combined on a three-hit shutout as Villanova blanked Norfolk State, 4-0.
The tournament continues on Saturday with four games featuring Norfolk State vs. Delaware at 9 a.m., Villanova vs. Western Michigan at 11:15 a.m., La Salle vs. Western Michigan at 1:30 p.m., and La Salle vs. Villanova at 3:45 p.m.
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