WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - The Hood College softball team defeated Ripon 5-2 and fell 7-3 to New Paltz on the final day of the Blazers' spring break trip.
At the Plate
- Chloe Saunders (Middletown, Md./Middletown) finished the afternoon 5-for-8, including three hits against Ripon.
- Alyssa Walters (New Oxford, Pa./New Oxford) went 3-for-3 with a home run against New Paltz.
- Jocelyn Pfleiger (Quakertown, Pa./Dock Mennonite Academy) homered against RC, her sixth of the season. She and Rachel Benden (Gaithersburg, Md./Damascus) both drove in two runs in that contest.
Inside the Circle
- Jordan Long (Middletown, Md./Middletown) pitched a complete game for the win against Ripon. She scattered seven hits and allowed only one earned run.
- Lindsay Wilson (Pasadena, Md./Annapolis Area Christian School) took the loss against New Paltz, allowing six runs, three earned, in 1.2 innings. Benden came on in relief and allowed one run on four hits over 4.1 innings, striking out three.
Hood 5, Ripon 2
- The Blazers scored all five runs over the first two innings, erasing an early 2-0 deficit.
- RC's Mikaela Lawrence led off the game with a double and scored on single by Abby Gilbertson. Gilbertson came home via an error later in the first for a 2-0 Ripon lead.
- Hood answered back immediately in the bottom of the inning. Saunders led off with a single and Pfleiger went deep to left to tie the game. Rebecca Gottleib (Linthicum, Md./North County) and Benden followed with singles, with Gottleib scoring to make it 3-2 on Mallorie Hetzel's (Pasadena, Md./Northeast) groundout to second.
- With two outs in the second, a single by Pfleiger and a Gottleib double put runners on second and third for Benden, who drove both runners in with a base hit to center to make the score 5-2.
- It proved to be more than enough run support for Long, who retired 15 of the final 19 hitters for her third victory of the year.
New Paltz 7, Hood 3
- Hood took a 1-0 lead in the first when Saunders started the game with a single and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Gottleib.
- A three-run homer by New Paltz's Kelly Marmorowski in the bottom of the inning erased the Blazers' lead.
- New Paltz added three more in the second, thanks in part to a two-out error by Hood that extended the inning. Jackie Rometo had an RBI single in the inning to make it 4-1. After a run scored on the error, Rometo stole home as part of a double steal for a 6-1 lead.
- Rometo had another RBI single in the sixth to give New Paltz a six-run lead.
- Walters hit her first home run of the season in the seventh, a two-run shot that knocked in Benden to make it 7-3.
For the Opponents
- Lawrence led Ripon with two hits.
- Kalen Berger took the loss, going all six innings, but gave up five runs on nine hits.
- Rometo and Jillian Shelbourne had two hits apiece for New Paltz.
- Sydney Waldon picked up a complete game victory, allowing three runs on six hits, pitching around seven walks.
Notes
- Hood ends its spring break trip with a 6-8 overall record.
Up Next
The Blazers travel to Marymount (Va.) on Mar. 22.
