Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU softball team opened a three-game series with Cleveland State at the North Athletic Complex Saturday, falling in both ends of a doubleheader. The Colonials dropped a 6-4 decision in game one in eight innings before the Vikings posted a 6-2 win in game two. RMU slipped to 16-12 (.571) overall, including 5-2 (.714) in the Horizon League.
GAME 1 • L, 4-6 (8 innings)
YARD WORK
Cleveland State grabbed a 3-0 lead after the top of the second inning, with all three runs coming courtesy of the long ball. Becky Hurosky connected for a two-run shot in the first, while Sydney Bajusz hit a solo home run in the third. The Colonials got a pair back in the home half of the third, as sophomore
Charlotte Grover drove a 2-0 pitch from Melissa Holzopfel over the fence in left for her second home run of the season to make it 3-2.
TYING IT UP
Grover was in the middle of a rally for the Colonials in the sixth that helped knot the score, 3-3. She led off the inning with a single to right center and advanced to second when freshman
Jess Matheny laid down the perfect bunt. Redshirt freshman
Meadow Sacadura loaded the bases with a single and, with one out, sophomore
Faith Miller came on to pinch hit and lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Grover with the tying run.
EXTRA INNINGS
Errors hurt RMU's chances in extra innings, with Cleveland State plating three runs in the top of the eighth. Kaelin Ettinger opened the frame with a single to left, and pinch hitter Maggie Kusmits looked to sacrifice her over with a bunt. The throw from freshman
Alaina Koutsogiani, however, was off the mark and headed up the line in right field. Ettinger advanced to third on the errant throw and then came around to score when the throw from freshman
Jess Matheny toward the plate got to the backstop. Mackenzie Tucker added an RBI single later in the inning before senior
Brittney Seibert concluded the scoring in the contest with an RBI single in the home half of the inning.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Senior
Dana Vatakis took the loss from the circle, allowing three earned runs in 7.2 innings. She was pulled after walking Hurosky, which snapped a string of 71 consecutive retired hitters without issuing a free pass. The five through eight hitters in the RMU lineup accounted for nine of the 12 hits in game one for the Colonials, with Sacadura finishing 3-for-4 while Grover went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI.
GAME 2 • L, 2-6
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
For the second consecutive game Cleveland State (12-15 / 7-1 #HLSB) struck in the top of the first, as a single to center from Bajusz scored Brooke Albaugh, who doubled down the line in left field with two outs. The decisive inning, however, came in the top of the third. RMU starter
Rachael Rhinehart, who struck out five consecutive Cleveland State batters after giving up the RBI single to Bajusz, fanned Albaugh for what looked like the final out of the frame. However, the ball popped loose from Sacadura, and her throw to first to end the inning was high, keeping the Vikings at the dish. Another error and a single for Bajusz loaded the bases, and Courtney Fernette came through with the big hit, a triple off the wall in right field that cleared the bases and pushed the advantage for Cleveland State to 4-0.
QUOTABLE
"We made our mistakes today," RMU head coach
Jexx Varner. "Overrunning bags, getting picked off, not stepping and throwing. The amount of mistakes that we made, those are problems that we have to recognize we have to fix. If we can find our edge and find a response to that then we're going to be fine. We're talented enough to do that, but you can't play like this, no matter how talented you are, and think you are going to get wins. We have to recognize that real quick and turn around and go after the next one."
SEALING THE DEAL
Hurosky added her second home run of the afternoon, a solo shot to right, to make it 5-0 in the fifth, and Spellman added an RBI single later in the inning for Cleveland State. The defense for the Vikings, which had been perfect all day, gave two back in the bottom of the six. Miller laced one that went through the legs of Spellman at short, allowing Grover and Matheny to score. Grover had reached on a fielder's choice, while Matheny followed with a single to center to cap off her second straight multi-hit effort.
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
Rachael Rhinehart struck out eight in 4.2 innings before being relieved by her sister,
Taylor Rhinehart, who fanned five in 2.1 and allowed just one hit. Combined the sisters set down 13 hitters on strikes in game two. In addition,
Taylor Rhinehart finished 2-for-4 at the plate, extending her hitting streak to 10 games. It's the longest hitting streak by a member of the Colonials this season.
UP NEXT
RMU and Cleveland State conclude a three-game series with a Noon first pitch Sunday, April 3, at the North Athletic Complex.
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