Lehigh Valley beats Berks 4-0, moves to within one win of Softball Carpenter Cup title

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/ FROM KEITH GROLLER Olivia Marcks (Emmaus) and Marly Laubach (Northampton) combined on a three-hitter and Joelle Morey provided some insurance with a two-run double in the sixth as Lehigh Valley beat Berks County-Lancaster Lebanon 4-0 on Wednesday at FDR Park in Philadelphia to move within one win of the franchise's third Softball Carpenter Cup title. Lehigh Valley is now 4-0 in the 16-team, double-elimination event and in the driver's seat. Lehigh Valley will await the winner of Thursday's 9 a.m. game and then has two chances to beat that team in the championship series, also on Thursday. Lehigh Valley will play at 11 a.m. and then again at 1 p.m. if necessary. LV could see Berks again. The team featuring three players from Brandywine Heights and another from Kutztown entered Wednesday's game at 3-0 and had put up some impressive offensive totals in Tuesday's games. But the combination of Marcks and Laubach shut down Berks. Marcks worked for strong innings, allowing just two hits, a walk and two strikeouts. In both the third and fourth innings, Berks had two runners on base. In the fourth, the damage was created by back-to-back errors. But each time, Marcks escaped trouble without giving up a run. Lehigh Valley got on the board in the third when Arastina Barry (Saucon Valley) had a bunt single and stole second. Lizzie Deutsch (Nazareth) singled and Mariah Kondravy (Liberty) walked to load the bases. Anna Snyder (Emmaus) then fouled off about 10 pitches before earning a bases-loaded walk to force home the game's first run. Alyshia Dellatore (Liberty) followed with a RBI single to left to make it 2-0. Lehigh Valley then tacked on two in the sixth when Cassidy Sullivan (Emmaus) walked, Jackie DeSarro (Becahi) had a bng single and after Janae Matos (Catasauqua) moved them up with a sac bunt, Morey ripped a two-run double to the gap in left-center. That was more than enough for Laubach, who allowed just an infield single and a walk over the last three innings. Six of her nine outs came on strikeouts. The linescore: Berks-Lancaster Lebanon 000 000 0 -- 0 3 1 Lehigh Valley 002 002 x -- 4 6 2 Allen, McKee (4) and Hirn, Emenheiser (4); Marcks, Laubach (5) and Deutsch.