MAY 1, 2005
BOB ZIADIE
KING'S, WILKES SOFTBALL SPLIT, LADY MONARCHS CLINCH SECOND SEED
WILKES-BARRE -- The King's college and Wilkes University softball team split a doubleheader Sunday at Robert L Betzler Fields.
With the split, King's stands at 27-9 overall and 10-4 in Freedom Conference play while Wilkes is 27-10 and 9-5 in league play. King's clinched the second seed in next weekend Freedom Conference playoffs while Wilkes is third. The teams will again square off in the first round of the conference playoffs on Friday at Wilkes at a time to be announced.
In the opener, Wilkes rode the two-hit pitching of Laurie Agresti who struck out 12 batters, including her 300th of the season, while issuing just one walk. Wilkes would score the only run of the game in the sixth inning when Nadine Taylor reached base on an error and would later score an unearned run on King's second error of the inning.
The run was all Agresti would lead as the Lady Colonel sophomore improved to 19-4 on the year. Andrea Dominick, Jan Nunemacher, Kim Graver, and Alex Ingram all had singles for Wilkes. Sarah Genewski was the hard-luck loser for King's, allowing just four hits and one unearned run while striking out six batters. Stacey Preambo and Justine Maggio had singles for King's.
In the nightcap, Wilkes took a 1-0 lead when Taylor led off the game with a solo home run. The Lady Colonels would add two more in the second when Sarah Miller doubled and scored on a base hit to center field. Wilkes would later add an unearned run to build a 3-0 lead.
King's cut the lead to 3-1 in the bottom half of the third when Kelley Vaxmonsky doubled and later scored on an infield ground out by Nikki Kotula.
Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Preambo reached base on a two-out error and moved to third when Kristin Brady also reached first Wilkes' second error of the inning. Mari Valonis would deliver an RBI single to cut the lead to 3-2, before Kate Shiffer's base hit brought home pinch runner Nicole Conger to tie the score at 3-3. King's would push across the winning run when Leanne Harvey's single drove in Conger with the deciding run.
Kotula picked up the win for King's, improving to 11-3 on the year, allowing just three hits while striking out eight batters. Preambo was 3-for-4, Shiffer was 2-for-3, while Valonis went 2-for-4 for the Lady Monarchs.
Sarah Plavchak took the loss, yielding 11 hits and four runs, three which were unearned, with four strikeouts. Miller and Becky Plebani joined Taylor with the only hits for the Lady Colonels.
King's will play its final regular-season contest Tuesday when the Lady Monarchs travel to Annville to face Lebanon Valley College at 2:30 p.m.
King's College
133 North River Street Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711
1 (888) KINGS PA
Questions or comments to: Bob Ziadie, King's College Sports Information Director
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