EC vs. Dominican College (Game 1)
EC vs. Dominican College (Game 2)
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Freshman Brittany Mitchell went for 4-for-5 with a game-winning hit, fellow rookie Sabrina Lolo came through with a pair of hits off the bench and the Eckerd College softball program overcame a pair of two-run deficits to salvage a split against Dominican (N.Y.) College, 0-9 (5 innings) and 6-5 (8 innings), on Wednesday.
Whitney Bernier pitched 2 1/3 innings of one-hit ball, including a three-pitch, three-out sequence in DC's series of at-bats in the top of the eighth to collect the win in relief.
The Tritons (6-13, 0-0 SSC) came back in the bottom of the eighth inning against the Chargers (1-3 overall), who opened their regular season only on Tuesday night against Sunshine State Conference member Florida Tech.
Eckerd trailed 3-1 and 5-3 in the second contest and overcame a surge of power from Chargers' catcher Ashley Corrao, who launched a three-run homer to straightaway center in game one and left the park in the finale with a two-run shot.
But Mitchell ripped a lined shot towards the right side of the infield with the bases loaded and just one out in the bottom of the eighth.
With the first baseman playing off the bag shading in towards the plate, the ball was too hot to handle as
Kristen Schurr crossed home plate.
Mitchell roped an RBI triple in her first plate appearance of game two, led off a two-run third inning with a single, drove an RBI single up the middle in the sixth frame and plated Schurr with the infield single to end the game.
Lolo was summoned cold off the bench and managed to rip a run-scoring double against Delaney Childers, a whippy southpaw who fanned five of the first seven hitters (all swinging) she faced in the opener.
Lolo's two bagger made the score 5-4 before Mitchell's RBI single knotted things up to force extra innings. She also reached on an infield single to help load the bases in the final inning.
Jessica Sudler and
Kaitlyn Dougherty both recorded run-scoring singles in the third inning that tied the game all-square at 3-3. EC catcher
Sarah Agnew also had a multi-hit game (2-for-4) and gunned down a runner attempting to steal to end the DC second inning.
Corrao led strong 10-hit effort by the Chargers in the opener as Childers scatted just two hits over five scoreless innings to lead Dominican to its first win of the season.
The Chargers tallied four runs in the first inning and padded their lead with five more in the second inning, sending nine hitters to the plate in each frame.
Eckerd will face a familiar opponent on the road in Ave Maria University on Saturday for a doubleheader. The Tritons toppled the Gyrenes to begin the regular season in a twinbill sweep.
