TUCSON, Ariz.- The Franklin & Marshall softball team (2-2) earned a pair of victories over Salve Regina (0-2) on their second day of the Tucson Invitational Games, winning game one 7-4 before earning a 6-3 victory in the second game.
Game One
Jaden Spigner led the offense with two hits in game one, going 2-for-3 with a double and one run scored. Alexa Klepper recorded a triple, Sophia Noriega had a double, and four Diplomats (Noriega, Erika Stewart, Madison Martin, Claire Sullivan) recorded a stolen base. Charlotte Dwyer pitched the first three innings, allowing no earned runs, three hits and two walks with a strikeout.
A one-out walk and steal from Stewart began a four-run first inning, as Klepper followed with a triple to right-center, and Noriega scored Klepper on a ground-rule double. Later on in the inning with two runners in scoring position thanks to steals from Noriega and Martin, Spigner drew a fielding error in left field to bring both runners home.
Dwyer would strand six runners across her three innings of service to preserve a scoreless outing. In the bottom of the first, she worked out of a one-out runners on the corners scenario with back-to-back flyouts. In the second, she left the bases loaded after generating a lineout to retire the side.
Salve Regina leveled the playing field with four runs in the fifth inning. A sequence of a single, walk, and hit batter loaded the bases with one out. From there, a double to right field cleared the bases, and one more came in on a single to center field with two outs before the inning ended on a flyout.
After recording just one hit and no runs between the second and sixth innings, F&M struck for three runs in the seventh inning via two hits and a couple of errors from Salve Regina. A Spigner single was followed by a Sullivan single. Later on, with the bases loaded, an infield error brought two more runs home. In the bottom of the seventh, Aliza Sheflin stranded a pair of runners, ending the game on a flyout to left field.
Game Two
A five-run fifth inning proved the difference maker in F&M's 6-3 win in game two.
Kate DelGrippo earned a complete game victory, logging seven innings with three earned runs, nine hits, two walks, and three strikeouts. Megan Wiarda went 1-for-2 with a double and two RBI. Natalia Garza drew three walks and swiped two bases, while Hillary Murse went 2-for-3.
The Seahawks got on the board with one run in the first inning, using back-to-back doubles with two outs to get on the board. The bottom half of the first saw Garza walk to kick off the inning. She stole both second and third base, but she got no further, as a lineout to shortstop ending the inning.
DelGrippo stranded a pair of runners in both the third and fourth innings. In the fourth inning, she worked out of a two-out situation with runners on second and third base by generating an infield popout. The Seahawks were able to add two runs to their lead in the fifth inning, putting runners on the corners with two outs. They produced back-to-back singles to right field before a groundout to third ended the fifth inning with F&M down 3-0.
After recording just one hit through the first four innings, the Diplomats generated five runs on three hits and a Seahawks error. Kate Clement began the inning by getting aboard on that error, but the next two batters were struck out. Noriega and Garza each walked aboard to load the bases, then a Gabby Mundy single to center field brought two runners home. Klepper added one run on a single to right field, while Wiarda found the right center gap to score two runs on a double.
F&M added one more run in the sixth inning, as Clement and Murse got aboard to put runners on the corners with one out. Noriega brought Clement home on a sacrifice fly to center field. DelGrippo allowed a single to begin the seventh inning before recording three-straight outs to confirm F&M's first sweep of the season. They'll get a chance to make it 3-0 against the Seahawks with a single game on Thursday.
Before then, F&M plays two more games on Tuesday, as they'll face Park University (Mo.) at 4:30 p.m. EST (1:30 p.m. MST) and Ottawa University (Ariz.) at 6:30 p.m. EST (3:30 p.m. MST).
