JACKSONVILLE, Fla.- The Ave Maria University softball team ran their winning streak to seven games on Saturday, as the Gyrenes completed a four-game sweep of Trinity Baptist College with victories of 13-4 and 5-1. Ave Maria's current winning streak has come almost exclusively on the road, with six of the seven wins coming away from the AMU Softball Field.
Ave Maria never trailed in the opening game, jumping out to a 2-0 lead with runs in the first and second innings. The effort of Miriam Padgett provided the run in the first inning, as the redshirt freshman walked, stole second, took third on a flyout, and scored on a wild pitch. The Gyrenes added to their edge in the second inning, when Paxton Hoop's double to right center field brought Mariah Melendez in from second.
The Gyrenes broke the game wide open in the third inning, scoring nine runs to bring their lead to 11-0. The big hit of the frame was a three-run home run from Morgan Grimm. The sophomore, who is a native of the Jacksonville area, hit her first career home run to extend AMU's lead from 4-0 to 7-0. Other RBIs in the inning were provided by Kayla Martinez and Abby Love, while four runs were plated on two passed balls and two errors.
After Trinity Baptist scored four runs in the top of the fifth to extend the game, the Gyrenes ended the affair with one swing of the bat. Angela Cataldo started the frame with a double, and moved to third base on a steal to put the game-ending run 60 feet from home. Martinez then ended the game with her first career home run, which easily cleared the fence at Trinity Christian Academy.
Kassandra Clark added seven strikeouts to her total after 13 yesterday, and did not allow a run in her four innings of work. The offense was led by three hits each from Cataldo and Dariyen Varner, as well as three RBIs each from Grimm and Martinez.
Game two saw two scoreless innings played before the teams traded home runs in the third inning. TBC's Lena Springer cleared the fence in the top half of the frame, but Martinez answered with her second homer of the day in the bottom. With her second home run, Martinez became the first AMU player since Sadie Mosher in 2017 to hit home runs in both games of a doubleheader.
A clutch two-out hit gave Ave the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth. Aylin Naranjo clubbed a one-out double, and was subsequently lifted for pinch runner Gracie Lopez. A bunt from Padgett moved Lopez to third, and a single up the middle from pinch hitter Dariyen Varner gave Ave Maria their first lead of the game, 2-1.
Three insurance runs were added by Ave Maria in the bottom of the sixth. Abby Love scored the first run after a single from Melendez was followed up by a TBC error. Naranjo drove in Melendez on a double, and another error from the Eagles after a Padgett single concluded the day's scoring.
Brittany Blizzard threw a complete game for the second day in a row, working all seven innings with just one run allowed. Blizzard struck out three TBC hitters and did not walk a batter. Naranjo (3) and Melendez (2) accounted for five of Ave Maria's ten hits in the win.
The Gyrenes have a chance to tie the longest winning streak in program history on Monday, when the Eagles of Robert Morris University come to Ave Maria. First pitch between the Gyrenes and the Chicago-based Eagles is set for 1:00 p.m.
