New Britain, Conn. – The
Robert Morris University softball team traded shutouts with host Central Connecticut State in each team's penultimate Northeast Conference doubleheader Sunday afternoon at a cool CCSU Softball Field.
RMU won the opener, 2-0, before dropping the nightcap, 3-0.
With the split, RMU remained tied for first place in the league standings with CCSU with one weekend left in the regular season. The Colonials also assured themselves of one of the top two seeds in the upcoming NEC Tournament.
Senior
Tess Apke was the offensive hero for RMU as she supplied the game's only runs in the opener by blasting a pair of solo homers. Her multi-homer outing was the second by a Colonial in 2015, joining junior
Kristen Gabelt, and gave her seven for the season and 26 in her career. Apke moved into the RMU career top 10 in runs scored (93) Sunday while also sliding into the single-season top 10 in RBI with her career-high 32.
Senior
Nicole Sleith twirled a four-hit shutout in the opener while notching eight strikeouts without walking or hitting a batter. It was her career-high eighth shutout of 2015, marking the first time a Colonial posted that many shutouts in a campaign since 2001. Sleith picked up her 20th win of the season with the shutout, marking the second time she has reached that milestone in a campaign.
Sleith and RMU worked around some early trouble in the opener before grabbing the lead for good.
Junior
Ashley Gerhart worked a seven-pitch, full count walk with one out in the top of the first, but a strikeout and groundout followed.
The Blue Devils' half of the inning started with promise with back-to-back singles, but Sleith struck out the next three batters consecutively, two swinging and one looking, to get out of trouble.
Apke blasted the first pitch of the second inning over the fence slightly right of dead center to put the visitors on top.
Each of the next two half-innings was of the 1-2-3 variety.
Two singles and a Colonial miscue put runners on second and third with one out in the bottom of the third. Sleith dug in and got a looking strikeout before getting a groundout to first to strand the runners.
Both teams went down in order in both the fourth and fifth innings despite 11 of the 12 batters putting the ball in play.
Sophomore
Jordan Gurganus singled with one away in the sixth but would not move any further.
Sleith set down the Blue Devils in order in the bottom half. A foul out behind the plate and a liner to center were the first two outs. Then sophomore
Stacey Capp made a fantastic leaping catch of a line drive that appeared to be ticketed for a hit.
Apke would add insurance with one away in the seventh with her second long ball of the game, a shot well beyond the fence down the left field line. Junior
Lauren Hackett would single into left one out later but would not score.
Sleith again retired the side in order to finish off the shutout as she ended up sitting down the final 14 Blue Devils she faced. She used a strikeout and two groundouts to finish things in the final frame.
Gurganus moved into the single-season top 10 in hits at RMU in the opening game when she tallied her 55th of the season.
CCSU would get an early lead in the nightcap and would refuse to let it go.
After RMU went in order in the first, the Blue Devils used two infield singles and a two-run triple to take the lead.
Gabelt made solid contact to start the second, sending a liner to right center, but it hung up long enough to be hauled in. Senior
Alexis Schwartzmiller reached base with two outs after she knocked a hard grounder toward the middle, but she would be left on base.
A Colonial miscue, a sacrifice and a steal gave CCSU a runner at third base in the bottom half, but Sleith got a groundout for the third out.
Senior
Samantha Santillo began the third with a liner toward right center, but the right fielder robbed her of a hit with a sliding catch. With two away, the second baseman threw Gurganus out from her knees after making a backhand stop.
A two-out solo homer added to the Blue Devil lead in the home half.
Gabelt worked a full count walk with two away in the fourth but would not advance further.
Sleith retired the side in order in the bottom half on two strikeouts and a foul out on the infield.
Schwartzmiller shot a single up the middle to begin the fifth. Two outs later, Capp lined a solid single into center to bring the tying run to the plate, but the following batter grounded out.
A one-out single followed by a sacrifice by CCSU in the bottom half gave the hosts a chance to add on, but Sleith got a fly out for the third out.
Gerhart singled to lead off the sixth, but the next three Colonials were retired.
A one-out bunt single in the bottom half amounted to nothing for CCSU as Sleith retired the next two batters.
Schwartzmiller almost gave RMU a promising start to the seventh, but her liner to deep center was hauled in by a jumping Blue Devil, the beginning of a frame that saw the Colonials go in order.
Sleith's win in the opener was the 76th of her career, moving her one shy of matching the career program record. Her 12 strikeouts Sunday moved her season total to a new career high of 260, helping her slide into third in single-season school history. Her shutout was the 26th of her career, moving her into a tie for second all-time at RMU with her current assistant coach
Erica List.
Apke, who has six homers in her last 17 games, posted her career-high 15th multi-hit outing of the season, the 47th of her career. She also notched her team-leading and career-best eighth multi-RBI effort in the opener, the 26th of her career.
With its win Sunday, Robert Morris guaranteed that it will finish with an overall winning percentage of at least .500 for the seventh time in the last eight seasons. It is the only NEC school that will be able to make this claim at the conclusion of the 2015 campaign.
Robert Morris will close out its regular season and play for the league's regular-season title next Saturday, May 2, with a doubleheader at in-state rival Saint Francis at 1:00 p.m.
