(Posted April 2, 2011)

MADISON, N.J. -- Juniata College softball's seventh inning comeback bid to salvage a split in its doubleheader at Drew University fell short on Saturday, as the Eagles fell to the host Rangers 3-2 in the second game of the teams' twinbill at the Drew Softball Field.

Juniata (2-18, 0-4 Landmark) dropped game one of the doubleheader, 11-2, in a five-inning game.

The Eagles played catch-up to stay with Drew in the early going of game two. The Rangers plated a run in the bottom of the first inning on Lexi Forsell's home run to center field, but the Eagles answered in the top of the second with Allison Gerlach's (Mesa, Ariz./Marcos de Niza) RBI single to right center that scored Kelsea Decker (Waynesboro, Pa./Waynesboro Area).

Drew scored again in the bottom of the second to take a 2-1 lead, but Juniata again responded. The Eagles knotted the game at 2-2 in the top of the third, as Caley McCool (Spring Mills, Pa./Penns Valley) reached on a walk, and crossed on Amanda Gerlach's (Mesa, Ariz./Marcos de Niza) double to straightaway center.

Erin Francis (Parkton, Md./Hereford), who reached on a single, advanced to third with one out on Amanda Gerlach's double, but Juniata was unable to get a hit or fly ball into the outfield to allow her to score.

The Rangers went up 3-2 in the bottom of the third, as Forsell reached on a an error and scored on Brooke Nwosu's single up the middle.

Juniata got base runners as far as second in the fourth, fifth, and seventh innings, but was unable to find the game-tying or go-ahead runs.

Kelsea Decker fanned seven Rangers while walking only two over six innings, but allowed three runs, one earned, on six hits in the loss. Drew starter Adriana Durso picked up the win, scattering seven hits with three strikeouts.

Kelsea Decker helped her own cause with a 2-for-3 effort at the plate with a double and one run batted in. McCool, Francis, Allison Gerlach, and Kelsey Shutt (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) each had singles, in addition to Amanda Gerlach's double.

In game one of the twinbill, Drew jumped out to a 8-0 lead over the first three innings before Juniata got on the scoreboard with Shutt's two-run double into center field. That scored Allison Gerlach and Kelsea Decker, both of whom reached on singles.

Eagle starter Mason Kersey (Charles Town, W.Va./St. John's Catholic) allowed six runs on seven hits in two innings pitched, and was charged with the loss. Morgan Miller (Olney, Md./Sandy Spring Friends) finished out the game, yielding three runs in the bottom of the fifth on two hits and two walks.

Shutt notched a double at the plate for Juniata, while five other players recorded singles.

Juniata returns to action on Wednesday, April 6, when the Eagles travel to Elizabethtown, Pa., to take on Elizabethtown College. First pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.

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Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.