Lansdale Catholic earns payback

Alyssa Messina didn't really have a lot to say about her own performance at the plate for the Lansdale Catholic softball team Tuesday afternoon.

The senior third baseman and captain of the Crusaders went 2 for 3 with a double, home run, and four runs batted in, but she responded with a drawn-out "yeah" and a laugh when her stellar offensive output was mentioned.

The cleanup hitter's bat was the difference against Conwell-Egan, but what Messina really wanted to talk about was the magnitude of the 5-3 win in the Catholic League matchup.

"We really owed them," Messina said. "They beat us three times, consecutive, so we really needed this win."

With each side going in undefeated in Catholic play, something was going to give at the top of the league standings.

So the Crusaders (10-1 overall, 6-0 league) made sure to strike first, getting three runs in the bottom of the first on Messina's bases-clearing double.

After that, however, runs were hard to come by.

"We didn't execute," senior Kristin Szczepaniak said. "We left way too many runners on. We definitely shouldn't have scored only five runs, definitely not."

With the game still within reach, Conwell-Egan (7-2, 5-1) got things going in the sixth.

"You have to give it to them," Messina said. "They had a couple of really timely hits and the ball just fell in the gaps. Nothing we could really do about them."

A few of those timely hits came from senior catcher Regina Milburn, who doubled and homered, knocking in two runs for the Eagles.

"She's a great leader and is just an inspiration for the team with what she does behind the plate and with the bat," Eagles coach Sandy Hart said. "She's the type of player that you want back there. She really stepped it up today."

Conwell-Egan had the bases loaded with the go-ahead runner on first in the seventh inning, but pitcher Ashley Seal settled down and the final batter flied out deep to center.

Conwell-Egan 000 003 0 - 3 6 1

Lansdale Catholic 301 010 x - 5 8 1

WP: Ashley Seal. LP: Alexis Gartner. 2B: CE-Regina Milburn, Tori McCoach, Brittany Porter; LC-Alyssa Messina, Jenna Gibbons; HR: CE-Milburn, LC-Messina.