The Red Devils split both of their Centennial Conference doubleheaders over the past week, winning one from both Gettysburg and Washington. Gettysburg came into the April 10 games ranked second in the conference and Washington, who split with Dickinson on April 7, stood right behind in third place. The Red Devils, who are climbing their way into the middle of the conference at 3-5, defeated Gettysburg 3-0 and lost to them 9-0 on April 10.

“Although we would have liked to beat Gettysburg twice, it was huge for us to shutout a good team,” said Captain Madison Gerish ’12. “Wins like that prove that we can play with the better teams in this conference.” Dickinson took Washington into extra innings before defeating them in the ninth, 4-3, but then lost the second game 7-2. They also dropped two non-conference games to Frostburg St. on April 5.

Dickinson’s defense played an error-less game behind starting pitcher Chelsea Homa ’14 in their 3-0 win over Gettysburg. Homa threw a complete game and limited Gettysburg, the conference’s highest ranked offense, to only three hits. Dickinson had enough timely hits to push across three runs. Gerish’s base hit drove in one of two runs in the first inning. Erin Owens ’15 led off the third with a single, was sacrificed over by Denise Haines ’13, and driven in on a base hit by Carly Jordan ’13.

Gettysburg’s offense came into Tuesday with a team averages of .355, 6.4 runs, and 10.2 hits per game, all tops in the Centennial Conference, and their bats recorded nine runs on 12 hits. Gettysburg’s pitching held the Red Devil bats to only two hits. Washington entered Saturday’s doubleheader 6-2 in the conference but Chelsea Homa limited the Shorewomen to only one earned run on five hits over nine innings, striking out thirteen along the way. Stephanie Hammond ’14 drove in Melissa Osborn ’13 for the game-winning run on a walk-off base hit. Washington scored all three of their runs in the third inning as Homa put up eight zeroes, allowing her offense to chip away at the lead. Dickinson’s hitters scored one in the fourth, fifth, seventh, and ninth. Down to their last out in the seventh, Katie Swade ’15 drove in pinch-runner Reiva Keith ’15 for the game-tying run that sent the contest into extras.

Homa also started the second game against Washington, lasting five innings before Katri Thiele ’15 pitched the final two. They combined to allow three earned runs as Dickinson’s defense committed three errors in the 7-2 loss.

In the opener against Frostburg St., a pair of costly errors led to a 7-6 Red Devils loss. Homa went the distance and only allowed one run, but two-out errors in the second and third innings led to six of Frostburg’s seven runs. Dickinson’s offense hit the ball all over the field, banging out twelve hits, but also left twelve runners on base.

The Red Devils nearly pulled off a comeback as they rallied to four runs on five hits in the sixth inning, but again they left the bases loaded. Jay Abell ‘15, Bruke Mikesell ’13, and Erin Owens combined to drive in the four runs.

The Red Devils lost the second game by a score of 9-3. Thiele and Clara Ann Joyce ’14 split the game on the mound. Dickinson scored the first run on a base hit by Abell, who drove in Gerish. Frostburg St. did most of their damage in the fourth inning when they sent twelve batters to the plate and scored seven times. Denise Haines and Erin Owens each went 3-4 in the second game. Haines, the cleanup hitter, finished the day 5-8.

The Red Devils host non-conference opponent Alvernia on Thursday April 12, before playing two more conference games against Swarthmore on Saturday. Dickinson, tied for fifth in a conference that allows four teams to make the playoffs, looks to win both at 0-8 Swarthmore.