Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU softball team completed its first weekend in Horizon League play Saturday, splitting a doubleheader and four-game set with Detroit Mercy at the North Athletic Complex. The Colonials fell in game one, 2-1, before rebounding to earn a 5-3 victory in game two. RMU owns an overall record of 7-5 (.583), including 2-2 (.500) in league play.
GAME 1 • L, 1-2
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Scoreless through three innings, the Titans scored the first run of the contest in the top of the fourth, but not without some drama. UDM had runners on second and third with no outs when Alyssa Lang hit a chopper to second baseman
Brittney Seibert, who fired home to prevent the run from scoring. Junior catcher
Erika Bell provided a sweeping tag, nailing pinch runner Kara Wolfbauer at the plate. The Titans then loaded the bases, but junior
Dana Vatakis got Jordan Hazel to strike out looking before Maddy Heilner chopped a single to left to drive home Dana Vitale and give UDM a 1-0 edge.
ANSWERING
RMU got the run right back in the home half of the fourth with two outs. Graduate student
Madison Riggle worked a full count and then fouled off a few pitches before connecting for her team-high fourth home run of the year. It was a shot to left that tied up the contest, 1-1. Riggle has discovered her power late in her collegiate career, as after posting just two round-trippers 94 at bats through her first three seasons, she has gone yard seven times in her last 85 trips to the plate since the beginning of the 2020 campaign.
DECIDING RUN
Detroit Mercy pushed the eventual winning run across the plate in the top of the fifth, with Lang singling to left with one out that scored Reese Ruhlman, who drew a one-out walk. Vatakis issued five free passes on the afternoon for RMU in four and a third innings of work while allowing five hits. She slipped to 3-3 (.500) overall on the year from the circle. Riggle replaced Vatakis in the fifth inning and allowed a pair of hits and a walk while striking out three. Sebiert finished 2-for-3 at the plate for the Colonials and on the four-game set against the Titans hit .455 (5-for-11).
GAME 2 • W, 5-3
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Much like Friday's doubleheader, the Colonials grabbed an early lead. Junior
Kristýna Malá opened the bottom of the first with a double down the left field line and came around to score three batters later, courtesy of an RBI single from freshman
Catalina Saxen. UDM got a run back in the top of the second before RMU plated a pair in the home half of both the second and third innings. The big hit in the third came from Bell, who smacked a double to center field. Saxen showed off her wheels, scoring from first to give the Colonials a 4-0 lead. Sophomore
Avery Winchell followed with a double in almost the exact same spot, which drove home Bell.
FIRST DUB
The offense helped freshman
Jane Garver pick up her first collegiate pitching victory. In a complete-game effort, the rookie allowed a pair earned runs on six hits while striking out five. She worked around five walks on the afternoon and came up big in the fifth inning. Detroit Mercy loaded the bases with no outs and added a run to close to within 5-2 after Renee Trotman picked up an RBI by drawing a walk with the bags full. Garver steadied the ship, however, striking out Lang, inducing a ground ball that Malá tossed home for the force and ending the inning whiffing Allison Smith on three pitches.
RING MY BELL
Malá finished 2-for-4 with a run out of the leadoff spot in game two for the Colonials, while Bell finished 2-for-3 with a pair of runs and an RBI. Bell also threw out McKenna Tanguay trying to steal in the first inning. In the doubleheader Saturday Bell finished 3-for-6, stretching her hitting streak to five games. More impressively, Bell has reached base safely in each of the 11 games she's played in 2021. Bell has collected a hit in nine games and in the two contests she finished 0-for-2 reached base via a walk. Overall in 2021 she is hitting .333 (12-for-36).
UP NEXT
The first Horizon League road trip is set for Friday, March 19, and Saturday, March 20, with a four-game series against the Phoenix in Green Bay, Wisc. The Colonials return home to the North Athletic Complex Tuesday, March 23, to host Cleveland State in a 2:30 p.m. doubleheader.
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