(Posted April 25, 2009)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Juniata College freshman Pam Heinrichs (Spring Mills, Pa./Penns Valley) finished off a win in game one and pitched a four-hit complete game victory in game two, to lead the Eagles to a doubleheader sweep of Catholic University on Saturday at Weis Field. Juniata won the first game, 12-8, and completed the sweep with a 4-1 win in game two.

The two wins improved Juniata's record to 21-9 overall, 8-4 Landmark Conference, and gives the Eagles their second consecutive 20-win season. They also allowed Juniata to clinch the number three seed for next weekend's Landmark Conference Softball Tournament, which opens Friday, May 1, at Moravian College. The Eagles will open the double-elimination tournament against no. 2 seed Susquehanna University in Friday's 1:00 p.m. game.

Heinrichs fanned only three Cardinal batters in game two, but did not allow a batter to get beyond first base until the seventh inning. She picked up her run support in the first and second innings, when Juniata put up two runs in each frame.

The Eagles put up two runs in the first when both Sarah Eckard (Hollidaysburg, Pa./Hollidaysburg) and Tara Carl (Duke Center, Pa./Otto-Eldred) scored on separate wild pitches. Eckard plated both Juniata runs in the second inning on her two-run double to center field.

Eckard, Carl and Kelsey Shutt (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) all went 2-for-3 at the plate for Juniata in game two.

In the day's opener, Carl went 4-for-5 and scored three runs with three RBI to lead a Juniata squad that pounded out 12 runs off 14 hits against Catholic pitching.

Juniata's six-run outburst in the third inning proved to be the difference in the game, when the Eagles took advantage of three Catholic errors to force runs across. Starting pitcher Alyssa Erb (Hollidaysburg, Pa./Hollidaysburg) and Carl each had RBI singles in the inning, go to with fielder's choice grounders by Eckard and Liz Schmitt (Knoxville, Tenn./H. Frank Carey, N.Y.) that also scored runs.

The Eagles tacked on two more runs in the fifth inning on base hits by Caley McCool (Spring Mills, Pa./Penns Valley) and Jackie Morley (North Wales, Pa./Archbishop Wood) that both scored runs. Juniata posted its first four runs in the first and second innings, including a two-run single to center field by Carl in the second.

Catholic's Kelly Lukacs generated most of the Cardinals offense, with two-run home runs in both the third and fifth innings, and a two RBI double to deep center field in the sixth.

Erb lasted five-and-a-third innings in the circle for Juniata, allowing eight runs, seven earned, on nine hits with four strikeouts. She improved her record to 12-6 with the win. Heinrichs came on for Erb in the sixth with one runner aboard and a five run lead, and finished off the Cardinals in the sixth and seventh to preserve the victory.

Catholic starter Stephanie Clemente allowed nine Juniata runs, only six of which were earned, to take the loss and even her record at 7-7.

Juniata returns to the diamond on Monday, April 27, at 3:00 p.m. when the Eagles host York College of Pennsylvania.

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