SPARKILL, N.Y. – The Philadelphia University softball team was defeated by St. Thomas Aquinas by scores of 5-4 and 8-0 in a non-conference doubleheader Wednesday afternoon on Spartan Field.

GAME ONE
The opening game was a pitcher's duel between Philadelphia's Renee Kakareka (Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg) and St. Thomas Aquinas' Julie Sosnicki until the top of the sixth when the Rams pushed three across to take a 3-0 lead.

After Sosnicki retired the first two batters in the sixth, Stephanie Martin (Hanover, Md./Seton Keough), Mariah Hans (Barrington, N.J./Haddon Heights), and Samantha Abromavage (Lake Hopatcong, N.J./Jefferson Twp.) strung together three straight singles to load the bases. Erin Maher (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) came through with a two-run double to plate Martin and Hans for the first runs of the day. Gabrielle Brown (Shillington, Pa./Governor Mifflin) tacked on the third run of the inning with the help of a Spartan error.

One inning later, Katy Sullivan (Holtsville, N.Y./Sachem East) led the seventh off with a single and advanced all the way to third on a sacrifice bunt by Shannon Weaver (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson). Kakareka helped her own cause with a RBI fielder's choice to make the score 4-0.

In the last of the seventh, St. Thomas Aquinas got its first two runners of the inning on base on a Philadelphia error and a Danielle DiModugno single. With runners at the corners, pinch hitter Kimberly Nowak delivered a single to plate Erin McCarthy to cut the Philadelphia lead to 4-1.

Nikolette Nevola, the next batter, reached safely on the Rams' third error of the inning and brought home DiModugno to make the score 4-2. Briana Emanuele ended the game with a three-run walk-off home run.

Both teams recorded eight hits. Martin, Hans, and Maher had two each for the Rams (8-14), while DiModugno and Emanuele had two for the Spartans (7-12).

Sosnicki earned the complete-game victory (5-4), which included five strikeouts. Kakareka took the loss (0-4).

GAME TWO
Nowak tossed a complete-game two-hitter and Samantha McDonald hit two home runs and five RBis for St. Thomas Aquinas.

The Spartans' Brittany Mangan worked a two-out walk with the bases loaded in the second inning to force home DiModugno for the game's first run. St. Thomas Aquinas added four more runs, three on McDonald's first home run, in the fourth to extend the lead to 5-0.

St. Thomas Aquinas ended the game with three two-out runs in the bottom of the sixth. McDonald knocked in two runs with her second home run of the game. Two batters later, Brittany Malloy ended the game with a RBI single.

Kakareka led the game off with a single and Abromavage started the second with a base hit. After the Abromavage single, Nowak retired the final 15 batters in a row.

Abromavage was the losing pitcher, allowing five runs on six hits in 3.1 innings.

Philadelphia heads to Nyack for a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference doubleheader on Friday, April 3 at 3 p.m.