WINTER HAVEN, Fla.- The University of Northwestern Softball team had an off day in Florida on Sunday but returned to competition with single games against the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg and Bluffton University on Monday. The Eagles' offense would catch fire in the opener defeating Pittsburgh-Greensburg 12-4 before falling to Bluffton 9-2.
Game One
The Eagles' win over the Bobcats was defined by a massive fifth inning by the Eagles' offense. UNW surrendered an early lead when Pittsburgh-Greensburg scored in the first inning off of a single down the right field line. The Bobcats got another RBI single paired with a sacrifice fly in the third inning to produce two more runs. A third RBI single in the fourth inning, and a scoreless bottom half of the frame by the Eagles would give the Bobcats a 4-0 lead after four innings.
It was in the top half of the inning that the momentum took a hard turn in favor of UNW.
Emma Heffron (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) would give up a single in the fifth, but would strand the runner at first to pitch a scoreless fifth inning. The Eagles would come up to bat in the fifth inning, and would not be retired for quite some time, batting around the order once and nearly a second time in the frame.
The scoring started when freshman
Riley Summers (Fontana, Wis./Big Foot) scored
Mikayla Gee (Rochester, Minn./John Marshall) and
Kate Beer (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) with a single up the middle.
Sydney Lane (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) advanced to second base on the RBI base hit after she had reached on an error earlier in the inning. Lane would advance to third base on a walk drawn by
Jadyn Iverson (West Fargo, N.D./West Fargo) and would score on an error off a ball hit by
Ally Ehnstrom (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin). Summers would also score on the error, tying the game at four runs apiece.
The Eagles' rally in the fifth inning was far from over.
Grace Bentley (Omaha, Neb./Wheaton College) would then single to score
Reganne Henning (Beatrice, Neb./Beatrice) (who had pinch ran for Iverson) and UNW had a lead that they would not surrender.
Megan Lundt (Frisco, Texas/Central Methodist) followed that up with a single of her own that scored Ehnstrom and Bentley. A passed ball would score Lundt.
Mikayla Gee (Rochester, Minn./John Marshall) would hit an RBI single and
Sydney Lane (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) would collect an RBI double. When the dust settled at the end of the fifth inning, the Eagles had turned their 4-0 deficit into a 10-4 lead.
In the sixth inning,
Gabrielle Keith (Marble Rock, Iowa/Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock) would score off of an error and
Maggie Oehlerking (Farmington, Minn./Farmington) would end the game with an RBI double down the left field line.
Grace Bentley (Omaha, Neb./Wheaton College) scored the run that ended the game in the sixth inning, giving the Eagles the 12-4 win.
Emma Heffron (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) picked up the win by pitching 5.1 innings giving up four runs and collecting two strikeouts.
Jenna Nusbaum (Blaine, Minn./Spring Lake Park) finished the game by collecting two outs and not giving up a run.
Game Two
The Eagles' second game of the day was similar in the sense that they fell behind in the first inning and faced an early deficit. However, this time, the Eagles were not able to complete the comeback.
Bluffton claimed the lead in the first inning with one big swing of the bat. The Beavers got a three run homerun that gave them control early in the contest. Bluffton, playing as the home team, would continue their offensive explosion with five more runs in the bottom half of the second inning. The Beavers got their five runs off of four separate RBI singles in the frame.
Trailing 8-0 in the top of the third inning, the Eagles started to attempt to make the long journey back into the game.
Riley Summers (Fontana, Wis./Big Foot), the freshman who had started her career day with three hits in the first game, hit her first career collegiate homerun in the third inning. It was a two run shot to right center field that scored
Sydney Lane (Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) and brought the Eagles' deficit to 8-2.
The Beavers would pick up an insurance run in the fourth inning and would not allow the Eagles to score again in the contest, defeating UNW 9-2.
Jenna Nusbaum (Blaine, Minn./Spring Lake Park) was strong out of the bullpen for UNW pitching four innings in relief and ony giving up one earned run.
Up Next
The Eagles' Florida trip will keep rolling along when they play single games against Thomas College and Nebraska Wesleyan University on Tuesday, March 7
th in Winter Haven, Florida.
