Softball team ends Spring Break trip with two close losses

LEESBURG, Fla. – The Olivet College softball team ended its Spring Break trip with two close losses – 6-5 to Meredith (N.C.) College and 7-5 to Rhodes (Tenn.) College – at the Sleepy Hollow Sports Complex in Leesburg, Florida.

Final Score: Meredith (N.C.) 6, Olivet 5
Location: Sleepy Hollow Sports Complex; Leesburg, Fla.
Records: Meredith 3-11 overall, Olivet 4-8 overall

• The Avenging Angels strung together four straight hits to score three runs in the top half of the first inning.
• The Comets loaded the bases with one out in their half of the first before a strikeout and ground out ended the inning.
• In the second, Olivet used two walks and a single to fill the bases. Sophomore Danielle Erickson deposited the first pitch she saw over the fence in left-center field for a grand slam, which was her first collegiate home run.
• Meredith pushed across two unearned runs in the third inning.
• The Comets answered with their own unearned run in the third to tie the game at 5-5.
• The Avenging Angels opened the sixth inning with three consecutive hits to push across what proved to be the winning run.

• Olivet totaled six hits.
• Senior Taylor Shellenberger was 3-for-4 with three singles.
• Erickson was the hard-luck losing pitcher. She gave up the six runs (four earned) on 12 hits.

• Eight of nine starters recorded a hit.
• Bryce Smith, Anna Goldman and Savannah Pierce each had two hits.
• Goldman drove in two runs.
• Madison Hamilton and Tatum Smith scored two runs apiece.
• Brie Caldwell picked-up the win in relief of starter Myah Morse. Caldwell threw the final five and two-thirds innings and allowed an unearned run on three hits.

Final Score: Rhodes (Tenn.) 7, Olivet 5
Location: Sleepy Hollow Sports Complex; Leesburg, Fla.
Records: Rhodes 10-9 overall, Olivet 4-10 overall

• The Comets took a 2-0 lead in the second inning when freshman Erin Brady hit an RBI-double and freshman Kaitlyn Horstdaniel had an RBI-groundout.
• The Lynx got one run back in the bottom half of the second on a sacrifice fly.
• Olivet went ahead 3-1 in the fourth inning after Erickson hit a solo home run.
• Rhodes left two runners stranded in scoring position in the home half of the fourth.
• The Lynx plated one run in the fifth to make the score 3-2 and took a 7-2 lead with a five-run sixth inning.
• The Comets did not go down quietly in the seventh. Junior Paige Poulter walked, junior Kayla Blett hit an infield single and senior Jazmin Hildebrand was hit by a pitch to load the bases. After an out was recorded, freshman Jessica Barnes singled through the right-side of the infield to move everyone up one base, scoring Poulter. A groundout off the bat of sophomore Kaylee Clothier scored Blett.

• Seven players each registered a hit.
• Five players scored a run apiece.
• Five players each drove in a run.
• Erickson suffered the pitching loss. She allowed six runs (five earned) on eight hits over the first five and one-third innings.
• Barnes recorded the final two outs.

• Eight player each had a hit.
• Samantha Feinstein was 2-for-2 with an RBI and run scored.
• Peyton Clark hit a double and scored two runs.
• In the circle, Lauren King was the winning pitcher. She surrendered the five runs on six hits. Abby Pons got the final three outs in the seventh inning.

• The Comets are scheduled to  participate in the North Park (Ill.) University Invitational next Saturday and Sunday, March 21-22.