March 24, 2012

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EASTON, Pa. - Lafayette opened the 2012 home slate with a doubleheader sweep of Manhattan on Saturday. Melissa Robinson earned victories in both ends of the twinbill, collecting a 3-0 win in the opener and an 8-7 victory in the night cap.

In the first game, Robinson scattered three hits and struck out four while walking just one in her eighth start of the season.

The Leopards put a run on the scoreboard in the fourth inning. With runners on the corners and two outs, Lafayette head coach Meaghan Asselta started Lauren Murphy toward second. Murphy was caught in a run down which allowed Jordan Parsons to steal home and give Lafayette a 1-0 lead.

Lafayette added single scores in the fifth and sixth. Amy Gebhardt doubled and later scored on Kristen Berger's groundout to the right side in the fifth. In the sixth frame, Lafayette took advantage of a pair of errors to tack on an insurance run. Parsons, who reached on an error, later scored on a second error as Lafayette pulled away.

Parsons played an even larger role in the second game as her two-run home run in the sixth inning resulted in an 8-7 Lafayette victory.

Robinson (3-6) pitched the final 2.2 innings, allowing just one hit while striking out four in relief of Alex Campanaro who gave up seven runs (four earned) on nine hits with three strikeouts. Robinson lowered her season ERA to 0.88.

Things heated up in the third inning. Manhattan was leading 1-0 before pounding out three runs. Jen Keller singled home the first run and two more scored on a pair of Lafayette miscues.

Trailing 4-0 in the bottom half of the third, Lafayette batted around its lineup to push across six runs. Stacey Dorn's one-out single plated two runs to cut the Jaspers' advantage in half. Murphy, the cleanup hitter, followed with an RBI-double that tied the game. The throw to home on the play hit the runner rounding third and went out of play to hand Lafayette a 5-4 lead. Gebhardt's (2-for-3) infield single brought Murphy the final 60 feet as Lafayette led 6-4.

In the fourth, Manhattan's Meghan McDevitt (double) and Amanda Paxson (single) each drove in a run to knot the game at 6-6.

As the game moved to the top of the fifth, a one-out single by Heather Leone prompted Asselta to call on Robinson for the second time. Bowen's single through the right side of the infield put the Jaspers ahead 7-6 before Robinson could get the final two outs.

When the game moved to bottom half of the sixth, Lafayette had two outs before Gwen Turner slapped a ball through the hole in the right side. The next batter, Parsons, jacked a ball over the leftfield wall off Kate Bowen (2.2 IP, 4 H, 2R, 1BB, 1K) for the 8-7 lead.

Robinson and the Lafayette defense retired Manhattan (1-18) in order in the seventh to close out the victory.

Lafayette (4-10) returns to action on Wednesday, traveling to Villanova for a doubleheader beginning at 2:30 p.m.