Moon Township, Pa. – The
Robert Morris University softball team went toe-to-toe with Northeast Conference leading Saint Francis Wednesday afternoon but ended up on the wrong end of a two-game sweep at North Athletic Complex. The Red Flash extended the nation's longest conference win streak to 33 games beating the Colonials, 7-0 and 14-12, to improve to 34-17 and 14-0 in the NEC. RMU slips to 10-34 and a 1-13 against league foes.
Taylor Bartlow led the offense, reaching base safely five times in six at-bats. She went 4-of-5, knocked in four runs, scored twice and also had two sacrifices.
Abrielle McCartney tacked on four singles to finish the day 4-for-8 with a pair of runs and three RBIs.
Madison Riggle and
Briana Bunner had two base knocks each.
In the nightcap, the Colonials pounced on Red Flash starter Abby Trahan for five first inning runs. RMU stacked up three hits in the inning and took advantage of two errors. Bartlow landed the big blow with a two-out single through the left side that score two runs. McCartney also had an RBI single. The lead did not last long, however. Madison Cabell launched a two-out grand slam to center to cap a five-run second frame that chased RMU starter
Kaitlin Ellzy from the circle.
Robert Morris regained the lead, 6-5, in the bottom of the second as SFU shortstop Mikayla Bower made the second of her five errors on an
Olivia Lorusso grounder. The Colonials third baseman later scored on a wild pitch. Riggle started the third inning with a double, the first of three consecutive RMU hits. Another error extended the inning and McCartney made Saint Francis pay with a two-run single down the left field line that put the host squad on top, 10-5, after three innings.
The Colonials second five-run lead of the game disappeared in the top of the fourth. Back-to-back jacks – the Red Flash had five in the game and six on the day – by Hayley Norton and Cabell helped tie the game at 10-10. Saint Francis took a one-run lead in the fifth, but Bartlow's leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh would eventually score when
Natalie Higgins lofted a sacrifice fly to center to force extra innings.
The bonus softball lasted one inning as Mikayla Bower's two-run bomb down the left field line capped a three-run eighth for the Red Flash. RMU got a single run in their half of the frame with Bartlow delivering the RBI.
Saint Francis cruised to a 7-0 win in the day's first game. Cheyenne McKee led the game off with a homer, an auspicious start to a 4-for-4 game for her. Four straight singles by the visitors highlighted a four-run fourth inning while single runs in the fifth and seventh capped the game's scoring.
Sierra McKee, Cheyenne McKee and Cabell each had five hits for the Red Flash. Cabell homered twice and drove in six runs.
The Colonials cap their 2018 season when they play host to Fairleigh Dickinson in a 1:00 p.m. doubleheader Saturday, May 5, at North Athletic Complex.
