SOFTBALL: Garrison, Upper Dublin hold off Gwynedd Mercy

UPPER DUBLIN — Her name is Kyla Garrison.

She’s a sophomore righthander from Upper Dublin who kept the Gwynedd Mercy Academy Monarchs hitless through three innings before slamming the door on them in a 4-2 Cardinals win at home on Monday.

Garrison allowed just two runs on six hits while striking out 12. She also belted an RBI double to right field in the fifth inning to extend the Cardinals’ lead just when they needed it most.

Gwynedd, with a potentially explosive lineup that seemed like it could boil over at any moment, gradually hammered away at the deficit. The Monarchs even got runners on second and third with one out in the top of the seventh, but Garrison fanned one batter and got a game-ending force out on another to secure the victory for Upper Dublin (2-2, 0-2 SOL).

“I guess I just had to lock in at the end, you know, and make sure all my pitches were good,” Garrison said. “I had to make sure I didn’t throw anything they could hit.

“I think my curveball, which is a newer pitch for me, was working today,” she said. “My riseball was OK, but my curveball really helped at the end.”

For Gwynedd (1-2), second-baseman Abby Howard went 2-for-3 with a homerun to lead the comeback effort.

“We were struggling against (Garrison), but we kind of stayed focused and kept chipping away,” Howard said. “I think we can start winning more games this year. I think we’re figuring stuff out and we can get our lineup together. I think we can go pretty far this year if we play our best.”

Lexi Weiss, who came into the game hot, went 2-for-3 with a triple and a run scored for the Monarchs. Catcher Jenni Morrison was 2-for-3 with a pair of stolen bases and gunned down three Cardinals on the base paths.

Gwynedd Mercy pitcher Kierstine Dunlap turned in a strong effort, as three of the runs she surrendered were unearned.

Garrison’s battery mate, Madden Reilly, threw out two runners and went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs. Bella Fiore finished 2-for-2.

“We have a lot of young kids in the lineup, so we’re learning every game,” said Upper Dublin coach Heather Boyer, whose club went to the state playoffs last year. “Kyla is outstanding on the mound, and she and Madden Reilly are like peanut butter and jelly, if you will. They work really well together.”

The Cardinals got on the board in the bottom of the first, when Reilly doubled home Sarah O’Brien, who had also doubled.

They added another run in the fourth on a groundout by Maddie Small that plated Lizzie Tambourino, who had reached on an error and advanced on a pair of base hits.

The Monarchs answered in the top of the fifth on Howard’s bomb over the centerfield fence.

“I was warming up behind the plate and I felt loose, I felt good,” Howard said. “I wasn’t really thinking about it, I was just like, ‘Let me get a small hit to help my team.’ The homerun kind of just happened.

“(The pitch) hung a little bit and was right down the middle,” she said. “Just a clean swing got it done.”

Upper Dublin tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the fifth, on Garrison’s double and a Reilly single to left.

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Upper Dublin 4, Gwynedd Mercy 2

Gwynedd Mercy         000      011      0          2-5-4Upper Dublin              100      120      x          4-8-2

WP: Kyla Garrison

LP: Kierstine Dunlap

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Follow Christiaan DeFranco on X at @the_defranc.