The bats for Muhlenberg softball heated up for the final day of the team's trip to Florida, leading to 21 total runs in a split of two games.
 
The Mules (4-6) totaled 15 hits in defeating Emerson, 9-0, after reaching double digits in hits and runs in a narrow 13-12 loss against Defiance.
 
Senior Haley Fedak provided the biggest hit of the day, knocking a grand slam in the third inning against Emerson. Fedak also pitched a two-hit shutout in defeating the Lions (7-1), striking out nine. She is the first Mule to ever pitch a shutout and hit a grand slam in the same game.
 
Junior Kristy Selby (pictured above) drove home Muhlenberg's first two runs of the Emerson game with a single to left in the first inning. Senior Kristina Qualben then lined a single down the left field line to score junior Allyson Sweeney, making it 3-0.
 
Qualben also plated Sweeney in the third inning with another RBI single after Fedak's big hit.
 
Freshman Nicole Atkins and senior Karissa Astrella each finished 2-for-2 against the Lions, with Atkins driving in a run on a sacrifice fly.
 
Astrella led the Mules against Defiance with four hits, three RBI's and two runs scored. Fedak slashed two doubles and scored three runs, and Qualben and senior Amelia Shelley each drove in two runs.
 
Astrella's first hit, a single to right, gave Muhlenberg a 1-0 lead. Shelley then doubled home Astrella as part of a three-run first inning.
 
The Mules then added six more runs in the second inning. Fedak started the rally with a RBI double, and five of the next six batters plated more runs, capped by freshman Sophie Chong roping a RBI single to right to make it 10-1.
 
Defiance responded with six runs in the bottom half of the second, cutting the lead to 10-7, before Astrella added another RBI single to push the Muhlenberg lead back to four.
 
The Yellow Jackets (6-2), however, pieced together runs in the third, fourth and sixth innings to tie the game before walking off with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh.
 
Astrella's six hits on the day bumped up her season batting average to .433.