Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU softball team continued play in the North Carolina A&T / Howard Round Robin Saturday in Greensboro, N.C., splitting a pair of contests. The Colonials opened the day with a 5-3 triumph over Howard at the Aggie Softball Complex before dropping a 4-1 decision to North Carolina A&T. RMU owns an overall record of 3-1 (.750) during the 2022 season.
GAME 1 vs. Howard • W, 5-3
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The Colonials earned their third consecutive victory to open the 2022 campaign in come-from-behind fashion. Down, 3-0, heading into the top of the fifth inning, RMU plated five runs in the fifth and sixth frames to earn the win. In the fifth, fifth-year outfielder
Alaina York provided an RBI groundout and graduate student
Taylor Rhinehart a sacrifice fly to pull the Colonials to within 3-2. The big hit in the sixth came courtesy of rookie
Alaina Koutsogiani, who drilled a two-run double to center that scored sophomore
Julia Ehrman and pinch runner
Logan Black to give the Colonials a 5-3 advantage. RMU had tied it up when freshman
Jess Matheny scored an unearned run on a fielder's choice by senior
Erika Bell.
THE DEBUT
The outburst in the fifth and sixth innings by the Colonials made a winner out of freshman
Madison DeVault, who was making her NCAA Division I debut. She allowed three earned runs in 5.2 innings, allowing just five hits and working around four walks. She was relieved in the bottom of the sixth by Rhineheart, who struck out Sydney Hixenbaugh with a runner in scoring position to end the threat and then retired the Bison in order in the seventh to earn her first save at RMU.
MEADOW BREEZE
Sophomore catcher
Meadow Sacadura finished 2-for-3 at the plate for the Colonials against Howard as RMU finished with seven hits in the victory. Ehrman was 1-for-2 with a pair of runs and a stolen base, with Koutsogiani picked up her first two collegiate RBI on the first extra base hit of her collegiate career.
GAME 2 at North Carolina A&T • L, 4-1
A GOOD START
The Colonials grabbed an early 1-0 lead thanks to an RBI groundout from sophomore
Charlotte Grover, which scored Koutsogiani. The Aggies responded with three in the bottom of the second. Dezianna Patton tied the game, 1-1, with a solo shot to left with one out, and North Carolina A&T plated two more on an error. Alyxx Estrada gave North Carolina A&T an insurance run in the home half of the fifth with a sacrifice fly that scored Jazzmaine Hammond.
PITCHER'S DUEL
The three runs in the bottom of the second would be all the runs that Icess Tresvik would need for the Aggies. In her first collegiate start, Tresvik allowed just a pair of hits while striking out 12. The first hit for the Colonials didn't come until the top of the sixth, when Rhinehart singled to left with one out. Bell added the other base knock for RMU with a one-out single up the middle in the top of the seventh. Tresvik settled down after the single to Bell, striking out Matheny and Koutsogiani to end the game.
FROM THE CIRCLE
Sophomore
Jane Garver took the hard-luck loss for RMU against the Aggies, as she yielded just a pair of earned runs in six innings while striking out nine, just one off her career high. Garver allowed five hits and walked just one.
UP NEXT
RMU concludes the North Carolina A&T / Howard Round Robin Sunday at the Aggie Softball Complex with an 11:00 a.m. first pitch against Howard.
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