Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 ORLANDO, Fla. –
Emma Hill (Rae, Mo./King City [Highland C.C.]) had four hits, including a triple, but the Monmouth University softball team was defeated by Butler (7-5 in eight innings) and No. 20 UCF (8-3) Friday at the UCF Spring Fling. With the losses, the Hawks fall to 2-3, while the Bulldogs improved to 9-8, while the Knights are now 23-4.
Chloe Howerth (Roscoe, Ill./Hononegah) added a 3-for-6 effort with three runs scored and an RBI.
Kayleena Flores (Atwater, Calif./Buhach Colony) chipped in with a pair of doubles and a run scored, while
Ashalynn Umiamaka (Kapolei, Hawaii/Kapolei [Eastern Arizona]) had two hits and two RBI's.
Vanessa Cardoza (Santa Ana, Calif./Oceanview) also drove in a pair in the Butler contest.
Sydney Underhill (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) started both games for the Hawks, taking the loss in the UCF game.
Amanda Riley (Tracy, Calif./John C. Kimball) took the extra-inning loss to Butler, allowing two runs, one earned, in three innings of relief. She also tossed two scoreless, hitless innings against the Knights.
Breanna Sniffen (Winter Garden, Fla./West Orange [St. Petersburg College] came on against Butler to get the Hawks out of a fourth-inning jam and keep the game tied. All told, she pitched 3.2 scoreless innings on the day, allowing with two hits and three walks.
The Hawks took control of the first game against Butler with a 5-0 lead after two innings. Howerth singled to lead off the bottom of the first, before Hill tripled to drive her in. Cardoza then grounded out to short to push a second run across. In the second inning, Flores doubled to lead off the inning before stealing third and scoring on a Galindo single. Howerth added an RBI single and Cardoza added another run-scoring groundout to push the Hawks' lead to 5-0 after two.
A Umiamaka walk and Flores double put Monmouth base runners on second and third with no outs to begin the third. But a pair of pop outs on the infield and a pickoff for the final out extinguished the Hawks' threat. Butler seized momentum and scored five runs to tie the game in the top of the fourth. Five hits and a sacrifice bunt later, Underhill was pulled after giving up five runs and leaving with the go-ahead run on second with one out. But Sniffen avoided further damage with a strikeout and induced a pop out to end the inning.
Monmouth couldn't manage more than one base runner in any of the final five innings and was kept off the scoreboard by Butler pitchers Kristen Boros and Kacey Starwalt. Sniffen worked out of trouble in the fifth and was replaced by Riley in the sixth. The freshman worked out of trouble after the Bulldogs put runners on second and third with one out with a walk, an error and a passed ball. Riley then induced a flyout and a groundout to keep the score tied at 5-5.
After working a 1-2-3 seventh, Riley's got off to an inauspicious start in the 8th, hitting a batter with Sarah Gronowski already standing on second by virtue of the international tiebreaker. After a sacrifice bunt and a walk loaded the bases with one out, what proved to be the winning run crossed the plate on a wild pitch. The Bulldogs then added an insurance tally on a sacrifice fly. Starwalt retired the Hawks in order in the bottom of the eighth to secure the Butler victory.
Against UCF, the Knights immediately jumped on Underhill for eight earned runs over the first two innings. Monmouth responded with two runs in the third on a Umiamaka single that scored Hill and Howerth. The Hawks got another run back when Howerth and Hill singled to open the fifth, Umiamaka hit into a fielder's choice to put runners on the corners and Shotzbarger hit a sacrifice fly to score Howerth. But the Knights' pitching staff allowed only a sixth-inning walk and seventh-inning hit-by-pitch the rest of the way to clinch the victory.
The Hawks continue UCF Spring Fling action tomorrow morning, when they face James Madison at 9 a.m. and Fairfield at 11 a.m.
