Softball Splits First Day Of Competition
Marshall Box Score │ East Carolina Box Score
ORLANDO – The University at Albany softball team played the first two games of the 2014 season Friday at the Citrus Classic at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida. The first game was an extra innings affair, with the Danes defeating Marshall (1-6) 12-11 in 10 innings. UAlbany (1-1) then played a close game with East Carolina (6-3), eventually succumbing to the Pirates 7-6.
Senior Brittany MacFawn (1-0) pitched all 10 innings of the game against Marshall, earning the victory with 13 strikeouts against three walks, and giving up eight earned runs. Freshman catcher Elizabeth Snow had the best offensive day for the Danes, going 3-5 with three RBIs and one run scored. Sophomore Kelly Costello, playing center field, also drive in three runs and scored one herself.
Both Marshall and UAlbany scored four runs in the opening inning. Marshall continued the trend in the top of the second, adding another three runs to take a 7-4 lead. UAlbany chipped away at Marshall, scoring one run in the bottom of the fourth and two more in the bottom of the seventh on a two-run home run by Snow to tie the game 7-7.
Following the seventh inning, the game shifted to international tiebreak rules, where the last batted out starts on second base with zero outs, though the batter can be substituted. Marshall and UAlbany then traded runs for the next two innings, each scoring one run in the eighth and two in the ninth. The run in the eighth inning was scored by freshman Kayla Bailey, who also runs indoor track for UAlbany, and who was substituted in as part of the tiebreak rules. Marshall scored again in the top of the 10th inning to take an 11-10 lead, before UAlbany scored two runs in the bottom of the 10th two claim victory. Defense came at a premium in the game, as Marshall committed five fielding errors to UAlbany’s four. When all was said and done, UAlbany came back from deficits four times during the game to eventually win after three innings of international tiebreak rules.
The Danes were able to limit the damage of Marshall’s offense, with the Thundering Herd scoring their 11 runs on 14 hits. UAlbany, however scored their 12 runs on 8 hits. Marshall’s Jordan Dixon (1-5) took the loss, despite recording 14 strikeouts.
Senior Emily Ostrom (0-1) took the mound for the Danes in their second game of the day, facing East Carolina. Ostrom pitched a complete game, recording three strikeouts on seven earned runs. ECU jumped out early to a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first, and ultimately held a 7-0 lead after four innings. In the top of the fifth, UAlbany scored four runs of its own to cut the lead to three on a bases clearing double by sophomore shortstop Maggie Cocks and an RBI single by Snow. UAlbany scored two more in the top of the seventh on a two-run home run by Cocks, and had a chance to win with a runner on first with two outs. Their rally ultimately fall short by one run, on a groundout to the pitcher by senior Lauren Alcorn. Cocks provided the offensive spark for the Danes, driving in five of UAlbany’s six runs on 2-4 hitting. Sarah Christian (4-1) took the win for ECU.
Tomorrow, UAlbany takes the field again to face Northern Illinois at 1:15 p.m. and NC State at 3:30 p.m.
