Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Eckerd College softball team found themselves on the losing end of the final two games of their series against the University of Tampa on Friday night by scores of 3-0 and 4-2.
Game one remained scoreless until the top of the fourth when UT broke the 0-0 tie plating two runs on one hit while capitalizing on two defensive miscues by the Tritons.
Eckerd's best scoring opportunity of the game came in bottom half of the same inning.
Sydney Dinelli and
Amber Hay hit back to back singles with two outs to put the pressure on Tampa's Julia Morrow.
Erin Dixson reached after being plunked by a pitch to load the bases, but the Tritons could not continue the two out rally leaving three on base.
The Spartans tacked on one more insurance run in the top half of the seventh. EC was unable to string together a late comeback falling, 3-0. Dixson suffered the loss in game one moving her season record to 9-3. The senior gave up just one earned run while striking out two.
Tampa managed to strike first again in game two getting their first run across in the fourth inning. The Tritons answered back immediately with two runs of their own in the bottom half.
Hay earned a walk with one out and promptly stole second before advancing to third on an error.
Kara Oberer then struck out, but a wild pitch allowed Hay to score from third while Oberer reached first base on the missed third strike. After advancing to second on another wild pitch, Oberer stole third and then scored on an errant throw by the catcher giving EC their first lead of the series.
A leadoff triple by UT in the fifth led to the eventual game tying run. The contest became a stalemate over the next two innings with both teams fighting hard to take the third and final game of the series. With two hits in the top of eighth the Spartans took a two run lead and held on for the 4-2 victory.
Amber Hay struck out seven in a losing effort and is now 16-9 on the year.
Eckerd (27-12, 8-10) will be back at home on Tuesday to take on Ave Maria in double header action. Game one is set to start at 4 pm.
