ITHACA, N.Y. – The Bombers are advancing in the winner's bracket of the NCAA Regional Tournament after defeating Penn St. Berks, 3-0.
Sophomore
Hannah Anderson led the offense with two hits, a home run to left center field and a double. Senior
Jessie Fleck also added two hits and an RBI on the day. Sophomore pitcher
Haley Congdon went the distance for Ithaca, throwing a three-hit shutout with two strikeouts.
The Nittany Lions threatened in the top of the first after leaving two baserunners stranded. The leadoff batter got on after an Ithaca error and the second was walked with two outs, but the Bomber defense battled to get the third out, forcing a fly out to left field.
Freshman
Abby Shields attempted to kick off a two-out rally with a single through the left side in the bottom of the first, but Penn St. Berks forced sophomore
Alex Wright to fly out to left field to end the threat.
Ithaca retired the Nittany Lions in order in the top of the second, including sophomore pitcher
Haley Congdon's first strikeout of the game.
The Bombers got on the board in the second inning, taking the early 1-0 lead over Penn St. Berks. Anderson started off the inning when she smoked a double to left center field, then advanced 60 feet on classmate
Annie Cooney's sacrifice bunt.
Alex Kimmel's groundout to the shortstop pushed Anderson across to give Ithaca its run.
Jenna Heffner recorded a one-out bloop single to center field and advanced to second after Chelsea Bright was walked, giving the Nittany Lions two runners on. The Bombers sat down the next two batters with a strike out and pop out to leave them stranded.
Ithaca recorded back-to-back singles in the bottom of the third from sophomore
Vanessa Brown and Fleck, but the two were stranded after Penn St. Berks's pitcher Jessica Rozick forced an infield fly and strike out to end the frame.
Carley Smith singled to kick off the top of the fourth inning and made her way to second after a bunt, but she was stranded after a pop out and groundout.
The Bombers were retired in order on the bottom of the fourth with a lineout, pop out and strike out. Ithaca returned the favor in the top of the fifth, sitting the Nittany Lions down on a fly out, groundout and pop out.
Ithaca kicked off a two-out rally in the bottom of the fifth inning thanks to a dropped fly ball that got Brown to second base. Fleck followed up that play with a single to shortstop, beating out the throw while Brown came around to score to give Ithaca the 2-0 lead.
The Nittany Lions attempted to start a two-out rally of their own in the top of the sixth inning with a single by Smith, but Congdon forced Becca Faust to fly out to Cooney in center field.
With one out in the bottom of the sixth inning, Anderson blasted a home run to left center field to give Ithaca an insurance run, putting the Bombers up 3-0.
Kendall Reed got on base after getting hit by a pitch to start the top of the seventh frame and was followed up by a walk to Heather Rissell. With the runners on, Congdon came back firing, forcing a pop out, fly out and groundout to end the frame.
Ithaca is back in action tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. when they face Ramapo College in the winner's bracket games. Susquehanna and Penn St. Berks will battle in tomorrow's elimination game at 1:30 p.m.