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Box Score 2 SAINT AUGUSTINE, Fla. - After winning its opening game on Sunday at the Flagler Invitational, the Eckerd softball team saw its winning streak come to an end in the tournament finale.
Eckerd won its ninth straight game to start the day, rallying from an early deficit to defeat Tuskegee (Ala.) 7-4, but dropped the finale to Flagler as the Saints scored in the bottom of the seventh for a 2-1 win.
The Tritons (9-2-1) fell behind early in the first game of the day as the Tigers scored twice in the top of the first inning off of EC starter
Grace Willeck. Eckerd cut the deficit in half in the third inning on an RBI single by
Rachael Luckett, but Tuskegee plated two more runs in the fourth to make it 4-1.
EC turned the tide in the bottom of the fourth, scoring four times to take the lead. The Tritons had six singles in the inning, including five in a row, getting run-scoring hits from
Carrie Shere,
Chelsea Armstrong,
Kaycie Duncan and Luckett.
Shere then added to Eckerd's lead in the fifth inning with a two-run double, putting the Tritons ahead 7-4.
Janna Gaburo (4-0) took care of the rest in the circle after relieving Willeck in the fourth inning. The sophomore did allow two inherited runners to score in the fourth, but shut the Tigers down over the next three innings to earn the win.
Eckerd totaled a season-high 16 hits in the first game with Luckett leading the way via a 3-for-5 performance. Shere, Armstrong, Duncan,
Nikole Van Gennep and
Kiley King each had two hits in the win.
In the finale, Eckerd took a 1-0 lead into the sixth inning but Flagler scored once in the sixth and in the seventh to earn a 2-1 come-from-behind win to end EC's winning streak at nine.
The game was a pitchers' duel from the start as Van Gennep and FC's Callie Reed both shut down the opposing hitters over the first three innings. Eckerd broke the scoreless tie in the fourth after Van Gennep's double brought in Duncan, who doubled two batters before.
However, Katelynn Smith entered in relief for Flagler and kept EC off the board the rest of the way including stranding two runners in the seventh. The Saints, on the other hand, finally got to Van Gennep in the sixth with back-to-back two-out hits to tie the game.
The Saints then loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh with no outs via two hits and a walk, and scored the winning run after an error by Armstrong at third. Van Gennep (5-2) took the loss despite giving up just four hits in the game.
The Tritons got a pair of hits from Van Gennep and one each from Duncan and King.
Eckerd returns to action this weekend, traveling to face Palm Beach Atlantic on Friday and Saturday.
