Softball team splits final two games in Florida to finish trip with 10-1 record

CAPE CORAL, Fla. – The Olivet College softball team split its final two Spring Break games at the Gene Cusic Classic and inside the Cape Coral Sports Complex in Cape Coral, Fla. The Comets pounded out 11 hits to win the opener, 12-2, over Eastern Nazarene (Mass.) College. Olivet then fell 3-2 in 12 innings to Stevens Institute of Technology (N.J.) to finish its trip to the Sunshine State with a 10-1 record.

The Comets raced out to a 2-0 lead against Eastern Nazarene in the first inning on a two-run double by senior Terri Hurosky (Nashville/Maple Valley). Olivet added two more runs in the third inning on Hurosky's two-run single. She then scored the third run on a double steal. The Comets made the score 8-0 when freshman Ashlynn Grubb (LaGrange, Ind./Lakeland) crushed a three-run home run in the top half of the sixth.

The Lions avoided the game ending early because of the mercy rule when they plated a run in the bottom half of the sixth on a suicide squeeze bunt. Olivet put the game away with a four-run seventh inning. Senior Lauren Lenard (Dimondale/Lansing Catholic) scored the first run on a wild pitch. Freshman Devon Mayse (Adrian/Madison) followed with an RBI-single to score freshman Shannon Huntley (Clio). Freshman Kelsey Scheenks (Bronson) drove in the final two runners, Mayse and freshman Morgan Stratton (Grand Blanc), with a two-run single.

For the game, Scheenks was 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBI. Grubb went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and three RBI. Hursosky also had two hits to go along with four RBI. In the circle, Stratton threw five hitless innings and struck out six batters to improve to 6-0 on the season. Freshman Kaitlyn Pirochta (Laingsburg/Perry) pitched two innings of relief, allowing one earned run on two hits.

The second game was a pitcher's duel between Grubb and Kayla Berardi from Stevens Institute. Neither team was able to push across a run until the ninth inning. Olivet scored in the top half of the inning. After Hurosky was placed on second base because of the international tiebreaker, she moved to third on Lenard's sacrifice bunt. After a strikeout, Huntley drove in Hurosky with a single to left-center field.

In its half of the ninth, Stevens scored and had the bases loaded with one out, but the Comets got out of the jam with a strikeout and a line drive out to the third baseman. Olivet left the winning run stranded in the 10th inning, while the Ducks left two runners on base in the bottom half of the inning.

The Comets scored the go-ahead run in the 11th when senior Lenard brought home Nielsen. Stevens forced another inning with a run in the bottom half of the 11th on a bases-loaded fielder's choice play at the plate. The Ducks scored the winning run in the 12th inning. With runners at the corner and two outs, the batter popped the ball into air and Olivet's shortstop had the ball just trickle out of her glove.

For the game, the Comets had seven hits, including two for Lenard. Grubb threw 188 pitches in the hard-luck loss, while striking out 18 and walking only two batters.

Olivet returns to the field next Friday, March 21, for a non-conference doubleheader at Bluffton (Ohio) University, starting at3:30 p.m.