Game One; Game Two

WEST POINT, N.Y. - Solid pitching and hitting keyed both Army wins as the softball team shut out Siena 6-0 in the first game, then completed the doubleheader sweep with an 8-2 decision in the second game in the Black Knights leveled their season mark at 3-3 in their home debut Thursday afternoon at the Army Softball Complex.

Jessi Muckelroy, the reigning Patriot League pitcher of the week, posted her second straight shutout in going the distance in the first 6-0 first game blanking of the Saints (2-8). Her teammates staked her to a 5-0 lead after three innings with third baseman Rachael Duval's three-run homer in the bottom of the second keying that early advantage. Duval scored the first run of the game on Alexis AuBuchon's bases-loaded walk as Army capitalized on four straight walks with two outs in the first inning.

AuBuchon, 2-for-2 with an RBI and run scored, led off the bottom of the fifth inning with the first of her two doubles, scoring on Tiffany Held's single up the middle to give the Black Knights a comfortable 5-0 lead. Army closed out the scoring in the sixth on clean-up batter Erin McClain's sacrifice fly deep to center field knocking in Reanna Johnson, who drew the eighth walk of the game off Amanda Filippazzo (1-3). She moved into position on Jeannae Tomlinson's single to right field and Duval's groundout. 

Muckelroy, who yielded eight hits, worked her way out of jams three times with runners at third. Leadoff batter Courtney Mahan, hit by a pitch in the top of the second, was stranded at third when the senior right hander got out safely on an infield groundout.  A foul ball popup to the catcher (McClain) got Army out of a jam with a pair of runners in scoring position in the fifth inning. Then a groundout by Lindsey McKeever, the runner stranded at third in the fifth inning, ended the Saint's threat in the sixth inning as Muckelroy left 10 runners on base in posting her career seventh shutout.

Sophomore Beverly Nordin (1-1) went the distance on a five hitter in the second game in posting her first win of the season and career third. She scattered three hits over the first three innings and retired the side in the fourth and fifth innings before being touched for a pair of unearned runs in the sixth inning. Leadoff batter Stacie Sueda led off that frame with a double and scored on an infield error with the second run crossing before Nordin was able to get out of the inning on a flyout to left field. She then retired the side in the seventh.

Army collected a season-high 13 hits in the game with Duval and Angele Deger collecting three each along with two by McClain and Ellington. McClain knocked in three runs starting with her RBI double in the first inning, then joined forces with Tomlinson in a four-run flurry in the fourth inning as each delivered a pair of runs with a single to boost Army's lead to 5-0. McClain was one of two black Knights to drive in four runs in the doubleheader.

The Black Knights added two more runs in the fifth on Clara Navarro's fielder's choice RB delivering pinch runner Jen Parsons and Ellington crossing on Johnson's sacrifice fly to left center field in taking an insurmountable 7-0 lead. After Siena plated a pair of runs in the top of the sixth, Duval answered with a home run, her second of the day and career eighth, in the home half as Army posted a season-high eight runs as the third baseman went 4-for-7 with four runs scored and four RBI in the twinbill.

It was the Black Knights first sweep of the Saints to pull ahead 5-3 in the series, while Army's start under first-year head coach Michelle DePolo is its best since 2003 (3-3). The sweep is the Black Knights' first in its home debut since taking the measure of St. Peter's  (4-3, 6-4) in 2006.