Moon Township, Pa. – Four days after earning its first doubleheader sweep as a member of the Horizon League, the RMU softball team picked up its first league series win Saturday by taking a pair from Oakland at the North Athletic Complex. The Colonials posted a 3-2 walkoff victory in game one over the Golden Grizzlies before claiming a 4-0 win in game two.
In taking three out of four from Oakland this weekend, RMU concluded its homestand with a record of 5-1 and improved to 13-9 (.591) overall in 2021, including 8-6 (.571) in the Horizon League. The Colonials have won six of their last seven games.
GAME 1 • W, 3-2
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
For the third consecutive game in the series, Oakland (8-8 / 7-5 #HLSB) grabbed the first lead, as Jamie Squires led off the second inning with a home run to left. The Golden Grizzlies struck again in the fifth, as Maci Brown scored on a passed ball. Sydney Campbell, who shut down the Colonials in the first game of the series Friday, retired the first six batters she faced and held RMU to just one hit through the first four innings.
STRIKE
RMU finally broke through against Campbell in the bottom of the fifth, tying the game, 2-2, by scoring a pair of runs on four hits. Junior
Erika Bell started the rally by opening the inning with a sharp single to right. Sophomore
Ariana Garroway came in to pinch run, and she scored all the way from first on an RBI double down the line in left field from freshman
Charlotte Grover. Two batters later, freshman
Catalina Saxen pinch hit for
Danielle Jason and singled to bring Grover home with the tying run.
WALKOFF
Bell was in the middle of another rally in the home half of the seventh, singling again to right to open the frame. Grover followed with a single to right, and sophomore
Rachael Rhinehart laid down the perfect bunt to move the runners up. Sophomore
Avery Winchell got the call as a pinch hitter, and she hit an 0-1 pitch to short, with Bell holding down the line. However, the throw by Squires was off the mark, getting past first baseman Cammie Brummitt, and Bell trotted home with the winning run to give the Colonials the victory.
IN CONTROL
Graduate student
Madison Riggle pitched arguably her best game of the season for the Colonials, scattering five hits and allowing just one earned run in posting her first complete game since February 26. She struck out four and did not walk a batter in improving to 4-2 on the 2021 campaign and needed just 70 pitches to earn the victory.
GAME 2 • W, 4-0
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Junior
Dana Vatakis retired the final 11 batters she faced in helping the Colonials earn a split with the Golden Grizzlies Friday, and she stretched that streak to 17 after opening game two with a pair of perfect innings. Jessie Munson broke through for the Golden Grizzlies by leading off the third with a single to left, but Vatakis shook it off, retiring the next three in order to get out of the inning.
WEB GEM
Madison Jones opened the fourth in a scoreless game by reaching on an error by freshman
Faith Miller, and two batters later Jones advanced to second on a single to right from Jen Krizka. Vatakis got Squires to pop out to Miller before Maci Brown laced an 0-1 pitch up the middle. Miller atoned for her error by making a diving stab to her right and shoveling the ball to Grover to get the out at second and end the inning.
BREAK THROUGH
RMU broke through against Oakland starter Chelsea Wiggins in the home half of the fourth inning, scoring three runs on four hits. Sophomore
Danielle Jason hit a one-out single and promptly stole second. Senior
Alaina York followed with a single to left and moved to second on the throw, with Jason holding at third for the Colonials. Junior
Kristýna Malá got RMU on the board with an RBI single to left, which chased Wiggins. Miller greeted new Oakland pitcher Lauryn DeBono with a sacrifice fly to center to score York, and Malá came home on an RBI single from
Natalie Higgins.
AN AT BAT TO REMEMBER
Oakland inserted pitcher Gracey Henkel to open in the bottom of the sixth, and on her first pitch, Malá promptly placed the ball on the hill in left field for the first home run of her career. Malá, a switch hitter who hit right-handed during the RMU homestand, finished 2-for-3 with a pair of runs, two RBI and a walk in the game two win. She hit .316 for the Colonials during the six-game homestand, leading the way with seven runs scored. Campbell replaced Henkel as the fourth pitcher of the game for the Golden Grizzlies after allowing the dinger to Malá.
BACKING IT UP
Vatakis posted consecutive complete game victories in as many days for the second time in 2021 by going the distance Saturday to improve to 5-4 on the year. She also earned her second shutout of the season and first since Opening Day with a three-hit triumph at North Carolina Central. In the series against the Golden Grizzlies, Vatakis posted an 0.50 earned run average (ERA), striking out eight and allowing 10 hits in 14 innings. She allowed just one extra base hit in the two appearances.
UP NEXT
RMU opens a six-game road trip next weekend with a four-game set at Purdue Fort Wayne. The Colonials and Mastodons will open with a doubleheader Friday, April 2, at 1:00 p.m.
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