MELBOURNE, Fla.- The Ave Maria University softball team followed mostly the same script from their first day in Melbourne on Tuesday, splitting a doubleheader at the USSSA Space Coast Complex. The Gyrenes took the opener behind a shutout from Kaedyn Sutton, beating Cleary 1-0, before losing to a national top 40 team in the nightcap, falling 8-3 to the Cardinals of Concordia University Ann Arbor.
Ave Maria got just two hits in the opener against Cleary, but took advantage of a costly error to score the game's only run. In the top of the second, Cecilia Garrett hit a tapper back to the pitcher. The ball was misplayed by Cleary, and the junior speedster raced around the bases to score, giving Ave Maria a 1-0 lead that would hold up for the remainder of the contest.
That 1-0 lead held up due to the Herculean efforts of sophomore righthander Kaedyn Sutton. The Ohio native moved her streak of innings without an earned run to 19, tossing her second consecutive complete game shutout. Sutton danced out of trouble, allowing five hits and a walk and leaving five Cleary runners on base. The win moved Sutton's record to 5-0 on the season.
AMU's two hits in the contest were provided by Ashley Nelson, who doubled in the fourth, and Garrett, who added a seventh inning single to her mad dash around the bases in the second. Other base runners for AMU came on a pair of hit batsmen, with Nelson and Kylee Lewis taking first.
In game two, the Gyrenes never got much momentum against Concordia, who scored in each of the game's first four innings to take a 5-0 lead. The Gyrenes did get on the board in the fourth inning, scoring two runs. Ashley Lykins led off the inning with a single, and moved up to second when Ryanne Saluter drew a walk. Annabella Phillips then put AMU on the board, clubbing a two-run double to left center.
After three more Concordia runs in the top of the sixth made it 8-2, the Gyrenes got one run back in the bottom of the sixth to complete the scoring. Nelson did much of the work in the sixth, hitting a one-out triple. Hailee Howe then ended the day's action with an RBI single.
Lykins continued to hit the ball well for the Gyrenes, going 2-for-4 with a run scored in the losing effort. Phillips and Nelson added the previously mentioned extra base hits, while Ave Maria's six hit effort was rounded out by Howe and Maya Gonzalez, who both recorded singles against the Cardinals.
Ave Maria's third day on the Space Coast will see two more games against teams from the midwest, namely the Hoosier State. The day begins at 10:00 a.m. with a game against the University of Saint Francis from Indiana. The nightcap, slated for 12:15 p.m., will see Ave Maria battle the Pilots of Bethel University, also from Indiana. AMU will then take Thursday off before finishing their Spring Break trip with two games on Friday.
