Cleveland, Ohio – A close one got away and the bats never got going in another as the Robert Morris University softball team lost to Canisius, 4-3, and Bowling Green, 8-1, on Sunday at the Cleveland State Dome Tournament. The losses put the Colonials at 0-4 after the opening weekend of the season.
 
Abrielle McCartney led the offense by going 3-for-6 with a pair of doubles and a couple RBI on the day. Of her six hits this season, four are doubles and she paces the team with five RBI in four games. Taryn Miller went 2-for-4 and reached base three times. Brianna Bunner added a pair of base knocks in six at bats.
 
While the RMU bats were quiet the first time through the lineup, Canisius was able to scratch out a run with two outs in the bottom of the second as Brittany Sockwell singled to right center before Gianna Degaltini doubled her home.
 
The Colonials strung together five straight hits in the fourth inning starting with infield singles by Kristen Pray and Olivia Lorusso. McCartney then laced a double to left center, her third in as many games, to put RMU on top, 2-1. A single off the bat of Miller plated McCartney before Bunner's single ended the hit parade with the Colonials holding a 3-1 lead.
 
The Griffs got to within one in the sixth when Lindsi Dennis doubled with one out and later scored on a throwing error. Degaltini led off the seventh with a single and scored one batter later when pinch-hitter Denver Keller doubled to left. Morgan Altman followed that with another two-bagger that pushed Keller across the plate for the gamewinning run.
 
Madison Riggle took the loss in a complete game effort. She scattered nine hits over six innings and struck out four without issuing a walk. Three of the four runs were unearned.
 
Bowling Green (5-0) jumped all over Robert Morris in the first inning to take a 3-0 lead when Sammy Dees doubled in one run and Aspen Pearle launched a two-run homer to center field. A bases loaded walk in the third pushed the margin to 4-0 and an error led to a fifth run for the Falcons in the fifth.
 
McCartney broke up Meredith Miller's no-hit bid with a double to leadoff the fifth inning. She would come in to score on an errant throw from right field after Miller flew out. McCartney accounted for the only other RMU hit in the game with a single in the seventh.
 
Bowling Green tacked on a single run in the sixth and two more in the seventh to win, 8-1. Miller went the distance for the win, whiffing 13 and allowing just the two hits to McCartney.
 
RMU starter Laura Coulter was saddled with the loss as she was touched up for seven hits and four runs in two innings of work. Lacee Collins threw the remaining five innings giving up just two earned runs and nine hits in her relief effort.
 
Robert Morris makes the first of five southern trips next weekend when it travels to Myrtle Beach, S.C., for the Coastal Carolina Tournament. The Colonials open play with back-to-back games against Kent State and Lafayette on Friday, Feb. 16, beginning at 9:00 a.m.