Youngstown, Ohio – The RMU softball team had its 2021 season come to a close Thursday in the first day of the 2021 Horizon League Softball Tournament at the Covelli Sports Complex. The Colonials dropped a 7-0 decision in the first game of the tourney to host Youngstown State before a come-from-behind rally fell short in the elimination game. Oakland, which lost to UIC in game two, earned a 5-4 win over RMU. The Colonials conclude their 2021 season with an overall record of 25-19 (.568).
YOUNGSTOWN STATE • L, 0-7
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The Penguins (36-13) scored all the runs they would need in the bottom of the second, scoring five times with two outs. Jillian Jakse opened the frame by drawing a walk. RMU starter
Dana Vatakis shook off the free pass, striking out Avrey Schumacher on three pitches before inducing a ground ball to third from Nikki Saibene. Jakse was forced out at second for the second out of the inning, but Hailey Niederkohr followed with a walk. Youngstown State took advantage, as Grace Cea brought Jakse home with the first run of the game with an RBI single to center. Conchetta Rinaldi kept the inning going by beating out a slow roller to third, with Niederkohr crossing the plate to give the Penguins a 2-0 edge.
IN A PINCH
Two runs in and two on, Milena Lacatena had her number called to pinch hit for leadoff hitter Yazmine Romero. Vatakis got ahead in the count before Lacatena lifted one to left center field and over the fence for a three-run home run for Youngstown State. It was the second home run of the season for Lacatena and her first since March 21 at Dayton, which was also a round tripper as a pinch hitter.
BAFFLED
The five runs were more than enough for Horizon League Pitcher of the Year Elle Buffenbarger, who stymied the Colonials for the third time in as many starts. She allowed four hits and worked around three walks on the afternoon while striking out six, improving to 20-3 on the year from the circle.
MILLER TIME
Freshman
Faith Miller drew one of RMU's five walks on the afternoon and also singled twice in reaching base three times on the contest for the Colonials. Also posting singles for RMU were graduate student
Natalie Higgins and junior
Erika Bell. Higgins drew a one-out walk as the second batter of the game, which was followed by a single to right from Bell. The Colonials couldn't capitalize, however, as graduate student
Madison Riggle went down swinging before sophomore
Avery Winchell fouled out to the catcher.
OAKLAND • L, 4-5
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
In the first elimination game of the tournament, the Golden Grizzlies (25-15) snapped a scoreless game in the bottom of the fourth as back-to-back doubles from Madison Jones and Lauren Griffith gave Oakland a 1-0 lead. The Golden Grizzlies added four more in the bottom of the fifth inning, with Cammie Brummitt and Jen Krizka each hitting two-run doubles.
NIGHT DIVIDES THE DAY
The Colonials got their offense going in the top of the seventh, scoring their first runs of the tournament and almost climbing out of their second consecutive five-run deficit. Bell opened the inning with a walk before being forced at second on a grounder to third from Riggle. Winchell put runners on second and third with a double to right center, and freshman
Catalina Saxen brought home RMU's first run with an RBI single to center. Miller continued her hot day at the plate with a single that scored Winchell, and two batters later senior
Alaina York connected for a two-out double to left, scoring pinch runners
Kristýna Malá and
Brittney Seibert. Oakland starter Sydney Campbell was able to secure the win, however, by striking out freshman
Charlotte Grover to end the game.
WRAP IT UP
Higgins finished 1-for-3 in each of the two games of the Horizon League Tournament and concluded the season with a .412 (61-for-148) batting average. She is the second RMU student-athlete in program history to hit .400 in a season, joining former Colonial Keri Meyer (2003-06), who established the single-season mark by hitting .418 (66-for-158) in 2005. Higgins concludes her five seasons in an RMU uniform with a career batting average of .339 (213-for-628), and in addition to owning the RMU career record for doubles (45), she ranks third all-time in games played (198) and hits (213).
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