AVE MARIA, Fla.- The Ave Maria University softball team had mixed results on Opening Day, splitting a doubleheader with the Eagles of the University of Fort Lauderdale. The Gyrenes lost 5-3 in the season opener, but responded with a historic offensive performance in a 16-0 win. The game was the first in the tenure of head coach Juliaclare Plezbert, who took over the program last summer.

The Gyrenes started the opener strong, pushing across two runs in the bottom of the first. Ryanne Saluter started the action with a blooper to right field, then stole second to get into scoring position. After Marisa Michi walked, the Gyrenes created some havoc on the basepaths, getting Saluter to score and Michi to third. The lead expanded to 2-0 when Maya Gonzalez drove in a run with a groundout in her first collegiate at-bat. 

Fort Lauderdale then scored the game's next five runs, which would prove to be the difference. The Eagles tied the game in the top of the third, using an AMU error and three straight hits to push a pair of runs across. The decisive runs came in the fifth inning, when UFTL loaded the bases on two singles and an error. Lilly Piper then cleared the bases with a double, giving the Eagles a 5-2 lead.

Ave Maria got one run back in the bottom half of the inning, but could get no more. Cecilia Garrett led off the inning by being hit by a pitch, then moved to third on an Annie Nudera single. Garrett would score on a sacrifice fly from Saluter, but Nudera, who stood on third base with one out, was stranded.  

Saluter was Ave Maria's offensive leader in the season opener, going 2-for-3 with a run scored and a run batted in. In the circle, Gonzalez got the start and tossed the game's first 4.1 innings. Ashley Altman and Kaedyn Sutton relieved Gonzalez, and the two freshmen combined to throw 2.2 scoreless innings in their collegiate debuts.

In game two, the Gyrenes again started early with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. It took just three hitters for Ave Maria to get those two runs on the board, as a Nudera single was followed by a Saluter triple, with a single from Marisa Michi extending the lead to 2-0.

The script would diverge from game one's in the second inning, when the Gyrenes scored seven runs to take full control of the contest. All seven runs would be scored with two outs, as the first two hitters of the inning were retired. Back-to-back triples from Nudera and Saluter, and an ensuing double from Michi, sparked the offensive onslaught, with Gonzalez adding an RBI single, two runs scoring on an error, and another coming across on a wild pitch.

Another four runs crossed the plate in the third inning, as the Gyrene offense did not let up despite their prohibitive lead. Saluter added another RBI with a sacrifice fly, and Ashley Nelson drove in two runs with a triple of her own. The last of the inning's four runs was driven in by Kayla Martinez, who plated Nelson with a two-out RBI single. AMU then scored three runs in the fourth to conclude the scoring, with all three RBIs in the frame coming from freshmen (Hailee Howe, Gonzalez, and Annalise Anderson).

The Gyrenes tied a school record with four triples in game two, and Saluter became just the third player in school history with two triples in the same game. Ave Maria's 16 runs on 19 hits marked top ten single game totals in school history in both categories.

Nudera, Michi, and Garrett all had three hits in game two, while Saluter continued to swing a hot bat with three runs batted in. In the circle, Kaedyn Sutton tossed a five-inning complete game shutout, striking out seven hitters without surrendering a walk.

The 1-1 Gyrenes are back at home on Wednesday for a doubleheader with Florida National University, with first pitch scheduled for noon at the AMU Softball Complex.