Softball downed by Brandywine; Eyes set on the national stage

In a turnaround year for the Lady Roaring Lions, the season came to an end as (2^nd, West) Fayette Softball met (1^st, East) Penn State Brandywine in the 2^nd round of the PSUAC on Monday afternoon at UGI Field in Scranton, PA.

As if the anxiety and anticipation wasn't enough, the contest, originally slated for Saturday, was forced to a Monday afternoon start time. Brandywine, led by outstanding performances from Alexa Anderson, Katie DeStefano, and Nikki Velez, managed to chip away at the Fayette front spreading runs score through 5 of their 6 team at bats.

Brandywine wasted no time altering the score. Arianna Segich began the scoring from a RBI single from Julia Allman in the bottom of the 1^st.

Fayette managed to hold the opposition's scoring attempts for an inning before Brandywine began its steady and consistent, inning-by-inning scoring.

With a 5^th inning roar, Fayette attempted to mount a comeback from Aubree Yates singling to right driving home Joseph. Nichols would sequentially double to left, bringing home Yates.

In what seemed like a hopeful turn around for Fayette, Brandywine locked down the opposing offensive threat while adding 3 more in the bottom of the 6^th.

Brandywine would move on defeating the Penn State Fayette Lady Roaring Lions 9-2.

Although eliminated from PSUAC postseason play, the Lady Roaring Lions surprised many by turning a 2015-16, 1 win season into a 2016-17 PSUAC second round postseason contender. Adding to the mix, 4 of the Lady Roaring Lions were honored for their season performances in the PSUAC. Tiffany Markovitch, Miranda Nichols, and Monica Joseph all earned PSUAC 2^nd team All-Conference. Hannah Kline was also granted Honorable Mention.

In light of postseason elimination, the Lady Roaring Lions received a national bid as the USCAA 10^th seed for the upcoming softball national championships held May 15^th-18^th in Akron, Ohio. Fayette will contest with 7^th seed, Judson College on May 15^th at 10am in first round of the single elimination tournament.

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