The Dickinson softball team overcame two separate deficits in a clash with Albright College at Dickinson Park on Tuesday, April 26. The regionally-ranked Lions kept took the lead in the top half of the 8th inning before a walk-off gave the Red Devils the victory in style.

In the first three innings each teams’ pitcher and defense settled in nicely, as they did all day in fairness. After three innings the score was still tied at zero. In the top of the fourth frame, Albright got their first two runners on base and capitalized on a sac-fly and RBI single two take a 2-0 lead.

After a scoreless bottom of the fourth, the Red Devils would answer in the fifth with a two-out rally. Killian Kueny ’19 began what would be a big night with a single in the fifth followed by a Rachel Brenowitz ’19 walk. With two-outs and a green light for the base runners, Nicole Torlincasi ’17 blooped a single into center field to score both runners, knotting the contest at 2-2.

After two scoreless innings two end regulation, the two sides went into extra innings, where sloppy play plagued both teams. Albright took the lead in the top of the 8th, as a base runner on second was able to round home on an error to take the 3-2 advantage. Dickinson would not go away, however, as they made the Lions eat their mistakes. Torlincasi was able to get into scoring position before reaching third on a sac-bunt. Piet scored the run and reached safely on the first Albright error in the eighth. Grace Edelson ’16 reached on another error before Casey Ditzler ’16 loaded with bases with a walk. Kueny came in the clutch, driving a single into left to score Piet for the 4-3 walk-off win.

Madison Milaszewski ’19 pitched 5.1 strong innings, surrendering a pair of runs on only three hits. Kueny would not only hit the walk-off, but earn herself the win in doing so as she pitched 2.2 innings of relief. The first-year gave up an un-earned run on 1 hit out of the pen.

With the win, the Red Devils moved to 15-22 before dropping their final two against Messiah College to finish at 15-24. Dickinson will greatly miss their graduating class. Grace Edelson, Casey Ditzler and Nicole Piet have been the soul of this team during their time at Dickinson. The three seniors finished first, second and fifth on the team with RBIs. Edelson lead the team in average (0.417), hits (50), RBIs (33) and HR (8). Piet hit for 27 RBIs while starting all 39 games for Dickinson. Ditzler played phenomenal defense with a 94 percent fielding percentage at shortstop while hitting for 0.252 and 9 RBIs.

The Red Devils will need continued strong play from their underclassmen like we saw last Tuesday if Dickinson wants to fill the gaping void left with these three seniors’ departures.

Most likely to step into place are Torlincasi, Kueny and Marissa Ruschil ’19, who have big shoes to fill. Torlincasi has been performing at a high level for three years now, so there should be no doubt she can step into a huge leadership role in the coming season. The fate of this team, however, will be relying on making the most of the young talent this team has to offer. Torlincasi had very good numbers with a 0.304 average and 22RBIs, but the two first-years will need to improve off their impressive rookie campaigns.