The Muhlenberg softball team jumped out to big early leads in both games of a doubleheader sweep at Gettysburg.

The Mules (18-11, 5-5) scored six runs in the first inning of the opener an cruised to a 6-2 win. In the nightcap, Muhlenberg plated four runs in its first at-bat and kept scoring, going on to a 15-5 victory.

The sweep was the first ever for the Mules at Gettysburg, and the 21 runs were the most ever scored by the Mules in a doubleheader against the Bullets (16-8, 3-3), blowing past the previous high of 15 in 2012. Gettysburg came into the game with a team ERA of 2.39, second in the Centennial Conference.

Senior Gillian Zack led the offensive outburst in the nightcap, tying school records for hits (4) and RBI (7) in a game. She hit a two-run single in the first, run-scoring singles in the second and fifth and a three-run homer, the seventh of her career, in the fourth. Many Muhlenberg players have had 4 hits in a game but Zack (pictured above) is only the second with 7 RBI.

Senior Sophia Cicchetti also made a mark on the record book, stealing a base in each game of the twinbill. She now has 34 stolen bases on the season, toppling the previous record of 32 that had stood since 1999. Cicchetti also scored 3 runs, moving within three of the school record of 40 in a season, and extended her hitting streak to 24 games, two shy of the school record.

Cicchetti led off the first game with a double and eventually scored on a groundout. After freshman Gabby Colder was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in the second run, senior Brianna Kessler delivered a bases-loaded single that scored two runs and knocked out the 2023 CC pitcher of the year. 

Sophomore Scooter Hulsen, who went 3-for-3 in the game, capped the uprising with a two-run double. 

That was more than enough for junior Justine Bergara, who went the distance for her 10th win of the season. She scattered eight hits and allowed only one earned run while striking out 6. Gettysburg scored a run in the bottom of the seventh and had the tying run on deck before Bergara ended the game with a strikeout.

The Mules plated multiple runs in four of their five turns at bat in the second game, with Zack figuring in each scoring inning. Her homer in the fourth gave Muhlenberg a 9-2 lead, and two-run doubles by Colder and freshman Lillie Teague were the big hits in a six-run fifth.