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MAY 11, 2006 KING'S SOFTBALL SPLITS FIRST TWO GAMES AT NCAA TOURNAMENT www.salisbury.edu/athletics SALISBURY, MD -- Mari Valonis smacked an RBI double in the top of the seventh inning as the fifth-seeded King's College softball team posted a 3-2 victory over fourth-seeded Moravian College in the opening round of the NCAA Division III National Tournament Thursday in Salisbury, Md. The Lady Monarchs, however, would fall in their second round game 10-1 to top-seeded Methodist College (NC), ranked ninth nationally in Division III, in five innings. With the split, King's stands at 37-8 on the year in the double-elimination event. The King's-Moravian game remained scoreless until the sixth inning when Kate Shiffer doubled down the right field line.  Leanne Harvey then smacked a two-run home run, her first of the season, over the left field fence to give the Lady Monarchs a 2-0 lead. In the Greyhounds' half of the inning Erica Klepeisz hit a leadoff double.  Lauren Homa then followed with an infield single allowing Klepeisz to advance to third. King's starting pitcher Nikki Kotula would then issue a wild pitch allowing Klepeisz to score while Homa moved to second. After another wild pitch resulted in Homa moving to third, King's coach Lisa Gigliello elected to bring in Kelsey Shreaves to pitch. But Jordan Oplinger would stroke an opposite field RBI single to knot the game at 2-2. Shreaves would then retire the next three Moravian hitters to end the inning. In the seventh, Lady Monarch freshman Abbey Knoblauch came through with a clutch leadoff single to right centerfield. After Justine Maggio's sacrifice bunt moved Knobauch to third, Kotula lofted a fly ball to right field, but not deep enough for Knoblauch to tag.  Valonis then followed by drilling a double to right field to bring Knoblauch with the go-ahead run. In the bottom of the seventh, Shreaves would retired the first two batters on fly balls to left field. On the second, King's defender Ashley Sullivan made an outstanding running catch up against the fence. With two out, Danielle Carrion reached base on an infield single. Klepeisz then delivered a double to right field but Annie Drimones would relay the ball to Valonis at first, who in turn gunned down Carrion at home for the dramatic final out of the game. Knoblauch and Kotula led King's with two hits each as the Lady Monarchs posted nine hits against Moravian all-American pitcher Megan Hennessy. Kate Shiffer, Cassy Shiffer, and Annie Drimones all added hits for King's. Shreaves (12-2) picked up the pitching decision for King's in relief of Kotula, allowing three hits in two scoreless innings. Kotula allowed just three hits in five innings, striking out two batters while walking a pair. Hennessy (22-5) took the loss for the Greyhounds (33-8), yielding three earned runs on nine hits, striking out eight and walking one. Klepeisz led Moravian's six-hit attack with three hits In the second game, Methodist (39-6) would take a 1-0 first inning lead, but would take command with five runs in the second inning. A solo home run by Candace Hudgins and an RBI double from Adrienne Acosta, combined with a pair of King's errors would up the lead to 6-1. Methodist would add three more runs in the third when Jackson hit s solo home run while Amy Faucette followed with a two-run single, increasing the Methodist advantage to 9-1. After Methodist added another run in the fourth, King's would score its lone run of the game in the fifth when Drimones singled, moved to second on a base hit by Knoblauch, and scored on an RBI single by Maggio. Maggio led King's with two of the Lady Monarchs five hits. Shreaves (12-3) took the pitching loss for King's, allowing four earned runs on five hits in one inning of work. Kotula finished the game, yielding six runs, three that were earned, on four hits in three innings. Kelly and Jackson had two hits each for Methodist, which totaled nine hits as a team. Jennifer Sorenson was the winning pitcher, allowing  two hits in four innings. King's will play sixth-seeded Neumann College Friday at 12:00 noon in an elimination game. Neumann dropped a 7-1 verdict to third-seeded Ramapo in its first-round contest. The winner will then play the survivor or the 10:00 a.m. elimination game between Moravian and Haverford.

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