PHILADELPHIA – Trailing 3-1 and down to its final out with no one on, the USciences softball team strung together five consecutive hits, the final one an Ashley Steiner walkoff double for a 4-3 game one triumph over Chestnut Hill on Saturday afternoon at Urban Youth Academy Field.
A three-run second in the nightcap was then more than enough scoring in a 5-0 victory.
USciences qualified for its second straight Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Tournament with the sweep, the first time in program history the Devils have achieved that.
University of the Sciences' 15 wins and 12 CACC victories are its most since the program records of 24 and 17 set in 2013, and the Devils' fifth place finish in the CACC is the second-highest behind the 2014 team's tied for fourth finish.
Prior to first pitch USciences honored the senior class of Keiya Moncilovich, Veronica Dark, Megan Master, Paige Schlechter, Gabrielle Simms, Taylor Hamm, Nina Cencetti, Hannah Higgins and Miranda Rodriguez.
Cencetti had a near-perfect day at the plate, finishing 5-for-6 with two doubles, two RBI and a run, while Simms also had five base kocks on the day, highlighted by her first career four-hit performance in game one.
Simms ended the afternoon with 57 hits, tied for the program's Division II record.
Master earned the complete game win in game one, while Schlechter threw six scoreless innings in the nightcap before Dark threw a perfect seventh inning.
Up Next
As the No. 5 seed, USciences will play fourth-seeded Post in the First Round of the CACC Tournament at 12 p.m. on Thursday at Georgian Court.
Game One
Rodriguez kept USciences alive with a two-out double.
Lauren Del Giudice gave the Devils the tying run on base by following with a single, before Abbigail Markee halved the deficit with a double of her own.
Simms brought Del Giuidice home with a single, setting the stage for Steiner's walk-off.
Rodriguez reached base three times as both she and Cencetti finished 2-for-3, with Rodriguez adding a base on balls and Cencetti doubling.
Markee's eighth inning run was her 32nd of the year, tied for second in program's Division II history, and she also walked to move into a tie for seventh with 15.
All three of the runs Master gave up were unearned, including the game's opening run in the second. Otherwise no runner reached scoring position until the eighth.
Trailing 1-0 entering the sixth, Hamm and Polera led off with back-to-back singles and after Danielle Jones' sacrifice bunt, Cencetti tied the score with a sacrifice fly.
Game Two
Schlechter did not allow a runner to reach scoring position to reach until the fifth, retiring the side in the first, second and fourth.
She gave up just four hits in her six frames, with two strikeouts and one base on balls.
Hamm's leadoff walk began the three-run third, as Polera followed with a single and Cencetti's two-RBI double opened the scoring.
Rodriguez then followed Higgins' sacrifice bunt with an RBI groundout.
Hamm also led off USciences' other scoring inning with a single in the sixth, scoring on Polera's double.
After a Cencetti single, Higgins closed out the scoring with a sacrifice fly.
Cencetti went a perfect 3-for-3 for her second career three-hit game.
Polera also had multiple hits and her double was the 11th of the year, tied for third in the program's Division II history.
