CLERMONT, FL.- The University of Northwestern Softball team continued their spring trip with two more games taking place in Florida on Saturday afternoon. The Eagles split their Saturday contests to move to 3-3 on the season.
Game One
In the first contest of the day the Eagles matched up with Dominican University. The Eagles dropped the game to the Stars, 5-0.
Dominican's offensive effort was spread out throughout the day, scoring one run in the third, and then a pair of runs in each the sixth and seventh innings. The Stars' pitching staff had an excellent day, shutting out the Eagles.
Briggs Carlson (North Mankato, Minn./Mankato West) got the start in the circle for the Eagles and pitched a complete game. Carlson gave up five runs, four of them were earned runs, and struck out six batters while only walking one.
Offensively,
Mikayla Gee (Rochester, Minn./John Marshall) and
Megan Lundt (Frisco, Texas/Central Methodist) each had a hit for Northwestern who served as the home team during the contest.
Game Two
Despite struggling in the first game of the day, the Eagles offense woke up early on in their second game against Delaware Valley.
The Eagles, who stepped up to the plate in the top half of the frame as the visiting team for the contest, jumped out to an early lead in the second inning.
Mikayla Gee (Rochester, Minn./John Marshall) slapped a single to centerfield that scored
Joelle Bounds (Verndale, Minn./Verndale Public) and the Eagles had their first run of the day. However, the second inning was not over yet. Following Gee's basehit,
Briggs Carlson (North Mankato, Minn./Mankato West) hit a single to left field and moved Gee to third base and scored
Grace Bentley (Omaha, Neb./Wheaton College). An error by Delaware Valley's catcher then allowed Gee to score and Carlson moved to second base.
Megan Lundt (Frisco, Texas/Central Methodist) would then reach first base on an error by Delaware Valley's shortstop, and Carlson came around to score. The Eagles had a 4-0 lead after the second inning.
Delaware Valley would score a single run in each the fourth and fifth innings, but the Eagles would hang on to win the game, 4-2.
The freshman
Emma Heffron (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) was on the mound for the Eagles and she picked up the first win of her Eagle career. Heffron pitched a complete game, going all seven innings and only gave up two runs. The freshman had eight strikeouts and only two walks. Heffron is 1-0 on the season.
Briggs Carlson (North Mankato, Minn./Mankato West) played right field and hit lead off for the Eagles in the second game of the day and was 3-4 with a run scored and an RBI in the contest.
Mikayla Gee (Rochester, Minn./John Marshall) also scored a run and had an RBI, going 2-3 at the plate.
After a Saturday split, the Eagles will continue their Florida trip on Monday, March 7
th as they play another doubleheader, this time against Westfield State University and Lake Forest College. Updates on the Eagles' Florida trip can be found on unweagles.com and on social media at @unweagles or @unwsoftball.
