AVE MARIA, Fla.- The Ave Maria University softball team made an emphatic statement in their season opener on Monday afternoon, sweeping the Conquistadors of Florida National University 10-2 and 12-3 at the AMU Softball Field. The Gyrenes, who were swept by FNU last season before winning 19 of their last 22 games, scored runs in seven of their ten trips to the plate, and ended both games early due to the NAIA run rule.
In game one, the Gyrenes trailed 1-0 after a half inning following two errors, but responded quickly in the bottom of the first. After two singles and a hit by pitch loaded the bases, Morgan Grimm singled into right to give AMU the lead for good. With two outs in the inning, Ashley Nelson followed with an RBI single of her own, and an ensuing error increased the Ave Maria lead to 4-1.
After FNU got a run back in the top of the second, AMU added to their lead in the bottom of the third. With runners on first and second and one out, Nelson continued her hot hitting with a two-run double to left-center field. Her double scored both Marisa Michi and Miriam Padgett, and pushed the Gyrene lead to four runs, 6-2.
Ave Maria added three more tuns in the fifth and one in the sixth to invoke the run rule. In the fifth, three straight singles loaded the bases before Emma Thompson drove in a pair with a pinch-hit single in her first at-bat of the season. With one out, Kalie Romig added to the lead with a sacrifice fly. The final run of the game, which clinched the win, was supplied on an RBI double from Marisa Michi, which plated Grimm.
Sarah Shepard earned the win for the Gyrenes in the opener, as the senior went all six innings with just one earned run allowed. The Missouri native set a personal record at AMU with nine strikeouts in her six innings of work. At the plate, Nelson was the AMU leader, going 3-for-3 with three runs batted in.
The second game saw FNU jump out to a 2-0 lead in the first, but the Gyrenes would once again take the lead back in the bottom half. Singles by Romig and Angela Cataldo, as well as a walk to Mia Gallegos, loaded the bases, and a wild pitch allowed Romig to score the first run. A sacrifice fly from Grimm tied the game, and Kayla Martinez doubled to deep center field to bring in Cataldo, giving the Gyrenes a 3-2 lead.
Five more runs would come in the bottom of the third, including two on the most exciting play of the day. Cataldo and Grimm started the inning with singles, and both scored on a two-run double from Michi. Gracie Lopez added the third run of the inning on a sacrifice fly. With two outs and a runner on second, redshirt sophomore Miriam Padgett clubbed a line drive into the left center field gap, and came all the way around for the first AMU home run of the season, an inside the park effort. Padgett's homer, the first of her college career, increased AMU's lead to 8-2.
AMU put the game away with four additional runs in the fourth. Michi drove in two more runs with an RBI single through the right side, while Lopez and Padgett both added RBI singles of their own. FNU would score once on an error in the top of the fifth, but it wasn't enough to extend the game past five innings.
Kassi Clark followed up Shepard's effort with five strong innings of her own. The sophomore struck out three hitters and walked just one, and did not surrender an earned run after the first inning. Padgett and Michi led the way for the Gyrenes at the plate, combining for seven runs batted in (four from Michi, three from Padgett.)
With a 2-0 record, the Gyrenes will compete next on Friday, in an exhibition doubleheader against South Florida State College. The next regular season game is scheduled for next Tuesday against Trinity Baptist College in Jacksonville.
