Emmitsburg, Md. (April 8, 2014) – The Mount St. Mary's softball team evened its record at 15-15-1 on the season with a sweep of Howard at Our Lady of the Meadows Field on Tuesday in non-conference play. The Mount earned a 12-3 win in five innings in the first game before shutting out the Bison in a 5-0 win in the nightcap.

The Mount (15-15-1) has now won six of its last seven games and is one win shy of tying last year's win total of 16. The Mountaineers improve their record to 5-1 in the all-time series versus Howard (1-25).

GAME ONE
MOUNT 12 – HOWARD 3 (5 Innings)

After digging an early 2-0 hole in the top of the first inning, the Mountaineers recovered by tying their highest offensive output of the season with 12 runs in a 12-3 victory in game one.

The Mount got a run back in the bottom of the first on Cat Clifford's sacrifice fly to center to plate Megan Baker, who walked earlier in the inning and took third on a throwing error.  

Baker went on to score another run to level the scoring at 2-2 in the bottom of the third. After leading off with a single and moving to second on an error, Holly Buckel advanced Baker to third on a ground out, and Baker was able to race home on a wild pitch.

With two outs in the top of the fourth, the Bison struck back with Sade Estes' RBI double to plate Jasmine Gammons for a 3-2 Howard lead.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Mount exploded for 10 runs to end the game. Clifford led off with a towering solo home run to left center to even the score. With two outs, the Mount scored nine more runs to pull away. With runners on first and third, Tori Belloc took off for second base, drawing a throw from the Howard catcher to allow Lindsey Ruhle to score from third.

Belloc scored on an error to make it 5-3 in favor of the Mount, and two batters later, Marisa Mayes came away with an RBI single and Buckel followed with a triple to score two more runs. Clifford, who led off the inning, doubled to right field to score another run for a 9-3 Mount advantage. With three runners on, Alyssa Silipino knocked a double to left center to clear the bases and end the game with a nine-run lead in the bottom of the fifth.

Freshman Sam Lichtner pitched the final 0.2 innings to pick up the win in relief of Danni Cummings.

GAME TWO
MOUNT 5 – HOWARD 0

The Mount's offense continued its hot hitting with single runs in the first, second and third innings for a 3-0 edge.

Clifford's RBI groundout allowed Jessica Greenewald to score from third for a 1-0 advantage in the first, and Buckel's infield single plated Rachel Heinze, who also had an infield single to leadoff the second. The Mount grew its lead to 3-0 on Heinze's RBI triple in the third, allowing Silipino to touch home.

With runners on second and third in the bottom of the sixth, back-to-back RBI singles from Katy Bobbitt and Greenewald helped the Mountaineers' lead balloon to 5-0.

Lichtner put on a dominating pitching performance with seven strikeouts while giving up just four hits in a complete-game shutout for her second win of the day.

The Mount returns to Northeast Conference play on Sunday, April 13, with a doubleheader at Fairleigh Dickinson beginning at 1 p.m.