AVE MARIA, Fla.- The Ave Maria University softball team dropped two tough games to an NCAA Division II foe on Monday afternoon, losing twice to Lindenwood University. The Gyrenes lost the opener, 3-1 in eight innings, and came up short, 10-6, in the nightcap.
The Gyrenes took a 1-0 lead into the seventh inning in the opener, but gave up three unanswered runs in a 3-1 extra-inning loss. Ave Maria outhit the Lions 8-6, but could not score the needed runs.
Ave Maria scored their first and only run in the bottom of the third inning. Kalie Romig singled and stole her 26th base of the season, putting her on second with one out. After a flyout, Emma Thompson drove in Romig with a single to left field. Thompson and Romig both increased their team highs, as Romig scored her 29th run and Thompson drove in her 22nd.
Brianna Geiger kept Ave Maria's 1-0 lead intact until the seventh inning with a stellar outing in the circle. The sophomore stranded runners in scoring position in four of the game's first five innings, and took a tough luck loss despite allowing just one earned run over her eight innings of work.
Lindenwood sent the game into extra innings with a run in the top of the seventh. Austine Pauley led off the inning with a walk, and moved to second base on a throwing error from the Gyrenes. After a sacrifice bunt advanced Pauley to third, a wild pitch allowed the Lions to tie the game.
The game went into the international tiebreaker in the eighth inning, with the inning starting with a runner on second. Lindenwood got an RBI single from Stormee Galka to take a 2-1 lead, and Keri Sheehan followed with an RBI single of her own to account for the 3-1 final score.
In the second game of the doubleheader, Lindenwood used a five-run first inning to claim a 10-6 victory over the Gyrenes.Â
The Lions' five run first inning came with just three hits, with Hanna Porter, Adele Linderman, and Megan Clark providing RBIs on two singles and a sacrifice fly. Ave Maria responded with two runs in the bottom half on a Michella Davis RBI single and an RBI walk to Brooke Pierron.Â
In the next three innings, each team scored one run to give Lindenwood a 6-2 lead after four innings. An RBI single from Caitlyn Touchette gave the Lions a run in the top of the second, while a fielder's choice off the bat of Destinee Elmore brought Pierron in for the Gyrenes.
Deanna Stirtzinger, Jessica Chavez, and Thompson drove in the final three runs of the game for the Gyrenes with two in the sixth and one more in the seventh. Any attempt to rally from AMU was stymied by the Lions, who scored once in the fifth and three times in the top of the seventh.
The Gyrenes enter Sun Conference play on Wednesday at the AMU Softball Field, as the Bobcats of St. Thomas University come to town. First pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
