It took a little while, but once the bats for the Muhlenberg softball team got going, they were hard to stop.

The Mules broke a scoreless tie with nine runs in the top of the seventh to win the first game of a doubleheader at Ursinus, 9-0, then banged out 13 hits in the nightcap, completing the sweep with a 6-1 victory. The two wins put Muhlenberg (24-8, 7-3) in sole possession of second place in the Centennial Conference with three doubleheaders remaining. 

Three pitchers combined to hold the Bears (11-21, 3-9) to nine hits in the two games. 

In the opener, junior Josie Krieman (pictured above) tossed a five-hitter for her first career shutout. She struck out one and allowed only two runners to reach third base. 

The Mules stranded eight runners through the first six innings before breaking out in the seventh, sending 13 batters to the plate and scoring nine runs on seven hits.

Sophomore Hailey Godin singled in the first two runs and scored on a double by junior Lillie Teague. A bases-loaded walk to sophomore Emersynn Fair and a single by junior Peri Kahn made it 5-0 before freshman Sophia Giambalvo broke the game wide open with a three-run pinch-hit double. 

Freshman Sofia Gallahue, in her second at-bat of the inning, brought in the final run with a single.

The nine-run inning was the biggest for the Mules since they put up 10 against Maine-Presque Isle two years ago. It was their biggest in a CC game since 2014, when they scored all 10 runs in their 10-0 win against Swarthmore in the third inning.

It wasn't the first time the Muhlenberg pulled out a win by scoring nine runs in its final at-bat. In 2022, the Mules trailed Centenary 1-0 before erupting for nine in the bottom of the sixth, ending the game on the eight-run rule.

Muhlenberg scored in three of the first five innings of the nightcap but didn't need much scoring because of the pitching of freshman Eden Clark. She pitched the first six innings, allowing only one hit and striking out 12 to tie the school record for a freshman. No Mule pitcher has fanned more in a game since 1991. 

Clark, who entered the game ranked 13th in Division III in strikeouts per seven innings, allowed her only hit and a run in the bottom of the second. She retired nine straight hitters, striking out six of them, from the third through the fifth innings.

Muhlenberg broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth after Teague led off with a single for her 100th career hit. The next batter, sophomore Ellie Williams, hit a sharp single to center, and when the Ursinus center fielder let the ball get by her, both Mules circled the bases.

Gallahue's leadoff triple in the fifth ignited a three-run inning that featured RBI singles by Godin and Kahn and a run-scoring double by Teague.

Gallahue put an end to the sweep in the bottom of the seventh, nabbing an Ursinus runner trying to score from second on a single with a throw on the fly from right field to home plate.