Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - After upsetting No. 11 Saint Leo in yesterday's series opener, the Eckerd softball team couldn't repeat the magic on Sunday as the Tritons dropped both ends of a double-header to the Lions, 5-0 and 6-1.
Both games, however, were tight until the final innings as Eckerd proved itself capable of playing with one of the top teams in the nation in Division II.
The day's opener was a scoreless battle for the first five innings as
Nikole Van Gennep picked up where she left off in yesterday's dominating performance. She limited the Lions (16-1, 2-1 SSC) to only two hits through five innings before running into a bit of trouble in the sixth. SLU had four singles that inning, but Van Gennep allowed only one run and left the bases loaded.
Eckerd had an excellent chance in the bottom of the inning, loading the bases after singles by
Brittany Martinez and
Kaleigh Floyd and a walk drawn by
Kaycie Duncan, but Stephanie Adkins struck out
Rachael Luckett to end the threat.
The Lions finally got to Van Gennep (7-3) in the seventh, aided by a two-out error that extended the inning. Saint Leo scored four runs after that error, capped by back-to-back doubles, before Van Gennep got out of the inning.
The Tritons again threatened in the seventh, putting two runners on base but again came up empty against Adkins who worked the final 1-2/3 innings in relief of starter Alana Tabel.
In the finale,
Janna Gaburo tossed three scoreless innings to start the game as she dueled SLU's Samantha Tyler. The Lions, though, broke through in the fourth with three runs, all of which came with two outs.
EC answered in the bottom of the fourth after Gaburo's single was misplayed by Saint Leo left fielder Tiffany Thompson, allowing Duncan to score from second.
The Lions padded their lead in the fifth with two more runs then added another in the seventh. Meanwhile, the Tritons couldn't manage much against Tyler, who finished the game with 10 strikeouts.
Duncan and
Carrie Shere both had two hits on the day.
Eckerd returns to the field on Tuesday, hosting Ferris State (Mich.) at 4:00 PM in a double-header.
