Charlotte, N.C. - After scoring 11 runs in a victory over Charlotte in its season opener Friday, the Robert Morris University softball team could not produce a similar offensive effort in its second meeting with the 49ers as host Charlotte came away with a 5-0 win in the Green and White Tournament Championship Sunday afternoon at the D.L. Phillips Complex.
Junior Jaci Timko (Houston, Pa. / Chartiers Houston) continued her torrid start to 2011 by going 2-for-3 against 49er ace Katy Hackett. The centerfielder recorded a multi-hit game for the third consecutive day, the fourth such occurrence in her career. Timko, who is the program's all-time leading hitter (min. 250 AB), also collected her 36th career multi-hit game in the process, the most among all active Colonials.
Redshirt junior captain Jessica Calderone (Wilmington, Del. / St. Mark's) joined Timko in going 2-for-3 at the dish and registered her first multi-hit game of the season and the 31st of her career in the process.
Calderone looked to get RMU on the board right away by singling in the first, but the Colonials were unable to advance the second baseman.
Charlotte grabbed two early runs in the bottom of the first courtesy of two singles, a wild pitch, a sacrifice fly and a Colonial miscue.
After a hitless second for both teams, Timko singled with two away in the third to bring the tying run to the plate, but Hackett shut the door.
The 49ers seemed primed to add to their advantage in the home half of the third when they put the first two on, but RMU freshman Geena Badolato (Mt. Lebanon, Pa. / Mt. Lebanon) showed poise by retiring each of the next three hitters to escape the jam. Sophomore third baseman Britta Grafton (Jamestown, Pa. / Jamestown) started an inning-ending double play in the fourth to keep the deficit at just two heading into the final three frames.
Senior catcher Kayla Crooks (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Brashear) walked and was sacrificed to second base with one out in the fifth, but Hackett again stopped the potential rally. After Badolato retired the side in order on a trio of groundouts, Robert Morris had its best chance to get back into the game in the sixth.
Timko and Calderone delivered back-to-back hits as RMU brought the go-ahead run to the plate with both its number three and four hitters, but Charlotte was able to escape unscathed.
Charlotte added three in the sixth to gain some breathing room after it put each of its first four hitters of the inning on base.
RMU freshman first baseman Chelsea Siar (Glenshaw, Pa. / Shaler Area) tried to start a late Colonial comeback by leading off the seventh with a double, but Hackett was able to preserve the victory.
It was Siar's first-career extra-base hit, and the rookie sits third on the team with a .357 average after Robert Morris' first weekend of competition.
The Colonials had defeated Charlotte, 11-7, Friday afternoon after trailing by four runs on two separate occasions.
Robert Morris will now have over a week off, its longest break of the regular season, before resuming its campaign in the state of Florida during the week of March 7. RMU will play six games in three days, March 7-9, at the Rebel Spring Games in Kissimmee before traveling to Clearwater for the Under Armour Showcase hosted by South Florida. Among the Colonials' six contests in Clearwater will be the school's first-ever meeting with No. 4/5 Florida and an exhibition game against the Dutch National Team.
