BU goes 1-2 in one-run games at the PFX Spring Games
Bruins defeat Hannibal-LaGrange, 3-2 in 9 innings; Fall to Cornerstone, 3-2 and to Spring Arbor, 8-7.
Hannibal-LaGrange Box Score
Cornerstone Box Score
Spring Arbor Box Score
CLERMONT, Fla. -- The Bellevue University softball team played three one-run contests Thursday at the PFX Spring Games, defeating Hannibal-LaGrange, 3-2 in 9 innings, before falling to Cornerstone, 3-2 and to Spring Arbor, 8-7.
The Bruins moved to 11-7 on the season.
Bellevue will conclude play at the tournament on Friday with an 8 a.m. contest against Marian (Ind.) University and a 10:30 a.m. matchup against Trinity Christian College.
Bellevue 3, Hannibal-LaGrange 2 (9 innings)
A two-run walk-off single by Maddie Siedlik propelled the Bruins to a dramatic, 3-2, victory in nine innings over Hannibal LaGrange in the opening game of the day.
Each team collected just five hits in the extra-inning affair.
The Trojans took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning when Jennifer Harness scored on a fielding error by pitcher Erin Sharpe.
Alex Tooley's solo homer to left field in the bottom of the fifth tied the contest at 1-1.
Neither team scored again until Kendra Jacob's RBI double to left field gave HLGU a 2-1 edge in the top of the ninth frame.
Playing with the international tie-breaker rule, the Bruins had two base-runners after Emily Gigax was hit by a pitch. That is when Siedlik's two-run single to center field sealed the 3-2 win for BU.
Sharpe improved to 5-0 on the season, allowing no earned runs, while scattering five hits, with one walk and nine strikeouts in 8.1 innings of work.
Cornerstone 3, Bellevue 2
Cornerstone used a pair of home runs by Courtney Ducharme to edge the Bruins, 3-2, in BU's second contest of the day.
After CU grabbed an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first highlighted by Ducharme's first home run, the Bruins tied the game at 2-2 on a two-run homer to center field by Tooley in the top of the second.
Ducharme's second home run of the game gave CU a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth frame and the Bruins managed just one baserunner in the top of the seventh as the Golden Eagles held on for the one-run victory.
Lexi LeCalsey (6-4) suffered the loss, allowing six hits with one walk and six strikeouts in six innings in the circle.
Rachel Younts (2-1) earned the win for CU, scattering eight hits with one walk and two strikeouts in seven complete innings.
Spring Arbor 8, Bellevue 7
The Bruins furious seventh-inning rally came up just short as Spring Arbor pulled out an 8-7 victory in BU's final game of the day.
The Cougars raced out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, scoring on a Bruin fielding error and on a two-run double to left field by Jade Nowe. The Bruins responded in the bottom of the first, scoring two runs on a two-run double to left field by Gigax, slicing the SAU lead to 3-2.
Sydney Taylor's two-run homer to center field extended the Cougar advantage to 5-2 in the top of the third inning. Sharpe, who replaced starter Emily Rochford, got out of a one-out bases-loaded jam later in the same inning by striking out two-straight Cougars to keep the SAU lead at three runs.
The Bruins got a run back in the bottom of the fifth when Kaitlyn Kinman drove in Sarah Zeleny with an RBI single to center field, cutting the deficit to two runs at 5-3.
SAU extended the cushion to five runs in the top of the seventh following a three-run homer by Nowe over the center-field fence, making it 8-3.
Sharpe delivered her team-leading eighth home run of the year, a two-run shot over the right-field fence to cut the lead to 8-5 in the bottom of the seventh. Later in the same inning, Sayde Woten drove in two more runs with a two-run single to right field to make it a one-run game at 8-7. The Cougars, however, escaped with the win when SAU's shortstop Carlee Keim got Woten out on Grace Glotfelty's fielder's choice grounder.
Emily Rochford (0-3) suffered the loss, giving up five runs and six hits with one strikeout in 2.1 innings of work.
Lauren Heath (2-1) earned the win, scattering eight hits with no walks and four strikeouts in six innings in the circle.