BU falls to Calumet, Ave Maria in final action at Spring Games

Calumet Box Score
Ave Maria Box Score

KISSIMMEE-, Fla. -- On the final day of action at the Spring Games, the Bellevue University softball team dropped a pair of contests, falling to Calumet College of St. Joseph, 4-3, in the opener, before being shut out by Ave Maria University, 7-2, in the nightcap. 

The Bruins are now 12-11 on the season. 

Bellevue will return to action on Wednesday, Mar. 17, when they travel to Orange City, Iowa for a 4 p.m. doubleheader at Northwestern College. 

Calumet 4, Bellevue 3

The Crimson Wave scored four runs in the fourth and fifth innings and BU battled back and fell just short in the 4-3 loss to CCSJ. 

Six different Bruins collected a hit in the loss. 

Despite not getting a hit in the first inning, the Bruins benefitted from three walks, a hit batsman, a passed ball, and a sacrifice fly to center field by Ellie Bliemeister to gain an early 1-0 advantage. 

The Crimson Wave tied the game in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice fly to centerfield by Sydney Murph.

A two-run double to center field by Grace Elrod and a Bruin throwing error gave CCSJ a 4-1 edge in the top of the fifth frame. 

A two-run homer to left field by Emily Mendick sliced the Crimson Wave lead to 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth. It was Mendick's first career home run. 

The Bruins threatened in the bottom of the seventh with two hits, but could not manage to plate a run as CCSJ held on for the one-run victory. 

Lauren Jurek (7-5) suffered the loss, giving up six hits with two walks and six strikeouts in seven innings of work. 

Ave Maria 7, Bellevue 2

Ave Maria used speed on the bases and solid pitching while taking advantage of three BU fielding errors in the 7-2 win over the Bruins in the nightcap. The Gyrenes stole nine bases en route to the victory. 

AMU grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on Angela Cataldo's RBI infield single that scored Kalie Romig from third. 

Kayla Martinez scored on a passed ball to make it 2-0 in the bottom of the second inning.  

An RBI infield single by Katelynn Sebastiani, a suicide bunt squeeze by Sydney Rogowski, and a run-scoring single to centerfield by Cataldo pushed the AMU lead to 5-0 in the bottom of the fourth frame. 

An RBI triple to left field by Miriam Padgett and a squeeze bunt RBI by Abagail Love extended the margin to 7-0 in the bottom of the fifth. 

Katlyn Kinman spoiled Sarah Shepard's no-hitter with a two-out single to left field in the top of the sixth inning. After Sydni Haugaard was hit by Shepard, the Bruins loaded the bases on a single to center field by Ashley Young. Shepard ended the threat by inducing a flyout to Maricela Egan to keep the score at 7-0. 

Kelsey Arnold's two-run homer to center field helped BU avoid the shutout, slicing the lead to 7-2. 

Emily Rochford was tagged with the loss after allowing five runs on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts in three innings in the circle.