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Box Score 2 SWARTHMORE, Pa. – Junior Melissa O'Connor took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and held off a late Widener rally to give the Swarthmore College softball team (13-9, 1-5) a 6-4 win in the opening game its doubleheader with the Pride on Thursday afternoon. Widener took the second game by a score of 11-2 to salvage a split.
Junior Nicole Aaron blasted a two-run homer to lead the Garnet offense in the first game. Freshman Suness Jones finished three-for-three with two doubles and senior Danielle Seltzer knocked in two runs.
O'Connor befuddled Pride hitters for six innings of the first game, allowing just one base runner and helping the Garnet maintain a 6-0 advantage entering the top of seventh. After O'Connor got the first batter out, Widener got a runner on base following a Swat error. The next hitter, Shelby Mackintosh, broke up the no-no with a clean single up the middle. O'Connor retired the next hitter, but with the game on the line, the Pride offense came to life seemingly out of nowhere, stringing together four consecutive singles to make it a 6-4 game with the go-ahead run coming to the plate. With runners at second and third, Widener's Heather Forward drilled a ball right-field. With the lead in jeopardy, Jones made a spectacular, over-the-shoulder catch to preserve the Swarthmore win.
Every Garnet position player in the first game finished with at least one hit as part of a 12-hit onslaught. O'Connor finished with five strikeouts.
The Pride's late-game momentum carried right into the second game, as Widener pounded out 14 hits to win 11-2 in six innings. Shelby Mackintosh led the Pride with three hits and two RBI while Jackie Korang belted a three-run home run.
Freshman Christen Boas Hayes suffered her first loss of the season in the circle. Senior Kate Smayda, sophomore Chelsea Matzko and sophomore Emma Madarasz all hit safely for Swat.
The win was the 26th in the career of O'Connor, which ranks second all-time in program history.
The home run was the seventh in the career of Aaron. She and Seltzer (8) remain in striking distance of the program record for career home runs (9 – Michelle Walsh and Christine Sendelsky).
Swarthmore returns to Centennial play on Saturday when it hosts F&M. The doubleheader is also Swarthmore's Strikeout Cancer event. First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.
