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Box Score 2 ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The final home games of the 2016 season didn't go quite as the Eckerd softball team had hoped as the Tritons dropped both ends of a double-header to Embry-Riddle, 6-3 and 8-1.
The Eagles (32-13) recovered from a 14-1 loss to Eckerd on Friday night to take the series on senior day for the Tritons' three seniors.
Embry-Riddle twice jumped ahead early on Saturday, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning of both games. Eckerd (27-23-1) countered with a run in the bottom of the first in the opening game when a failed attempt to back-pick
Rachael Luckett at third base allowed her to score.
The Eagles extended their lead in the third inning with a two-run, two-out single by Gabi Obia that ended the day for EC starter
Janna Gaburo.Â
Grace Willeck coaxed a pop-up to end the inning, and the Tritons got the two runs back in the bottom of the fourth by again taking advantage of ERAU miscues.
However, Embry-Riddle added two more runs in the top of the sixth inning to take a three-run cushion into the seventh. Eckerd looked poised to stage a rally putting runners on second and third with two outs following a
Meredith McGinnis walk and a Luckett double, but Eagle pitcher Kassidy Simons struck out
Kaycie Duncan to end the game.
In the series finale, the Eagles got to Eckerd starter
Nikole Van Gennep early with four runs over the first two innings. A hard grounder off the leg of Van Gennep with two outs in the third ended her day earlier than planned as Willeck came into to replace her following the injury.
Meanwhile, Raquelli Bianco kept the Tritons off the bases for much of the game. Eckerd broke up her shutout attempt in the sixth inning when Eagle catcher Anna Battison inadvertently threw a ball into centerfield on a walk, allowing Luckett to score from third.
The Eagles, though, responded with two runs in the top of the seventh to make it 8-1, and Bianco stranded a pair of Tritons in the bottom of the inning to finish the game.
Gaburo (9-6) took the loss in game one while Van Gennep (15-17) was saddled with the loss in game two. Luckett and
Carrie Shere had two hits each in the opener while Duncan had two in her final game at the Turley Athletic Complex.
Today marked the final home games in the careers of Eckerd's three seniors - Duncan,
Brittany Martinez and
Stephanie Wolfrom. The trio was honored before the first game. Duncan and Martinez both recorded base hits in their last at-bats at Turley.
The regular season concludes for Eckerd next weekend with a trip to Florida Southern for a three-game series beginning on Friday.
