Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU softball team opened a three-game series Tuesday at Youngstown State, splitting a doubleheader with the Penguins at the Covelli Sports Complex. YSU earned a 6-5 victory in the opener before the Colonials responded with an 11-3 victory in six innings in game two. RMU owns an overall record of 16-16 (.500) during the 2023 season, including 6-3 (.667) in the Horizon League.
GAME 1 • L, 5-6
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Youngstown State erased deficits of 2-0 and 5-2, plating a pair in the home half of the seventh to tie the contest, 5-5, before earning a walkoff victory in the eighth. Sara Fessler opened the deciding rally for the Penguins in the bottom of the eighth with a single to left. She moved to second on a passed ball and moved up another 60 feet when Bree Kohler drew a four-pitch walk, as the last offering from sophomore
Madison DeVault was wild, allowing Fessler to advance to third. Conchetta Rinaldi followed by lacing a single down the line in right, scoring Fessler to give the Penguins the victory in the opener.
THE RIGHT FIELD LINE
RMU grabbed an early 2-0 lead thanks to sophomore
Logan Black, who lifted a single down the line in right in the top of the seventh to score both
Catalina Saxen and
Meadow Sacadura. The Penguins plated a run in the home half of the second and added another in the fourth to tie the contest, 2-2, before the Colonials scored three in the fifth to open up a 5-2 lead. The rally started with two outs and a Youngstown State error, with junior
Charlotte Grover reaching on a miscue by her counterpart at short.
Alaina Koutsogiani followed with a walk and Sacadura put the Colonials in front with a single, you guessed it, down the line in right. Sophomore
Jess Matheny followed with a two-run double to give RMU a three-run advantage.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Black finished 2-for-4 in the opener against Youngstown State, extending her hitting streak to four games with the performance. The five through eight hitters for RMU collected five hits and also drove in all five runs for the Colonials in the contest as Black notched her third multi-hit effort in the last four games.
GAME 2 • W, 11-3 (6 innings)
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Looking to bounce back after a tough loss in the opener, Fessler gave Youngstown State (18-17 / 6-3 #HLSB) the early lead just six pitches into the bottom of the first, leading off the the tilt with a home run to center. It was all RMU from there, however. RMU scored in the top half of the next five innings, opening up a 9-1 lead before YSU scored twice in the home half of the fifth. The Colonials got both of those runs back in the top of the sixth to settle the final score.
A LENGTHENING LINEUP
The bottom half of the RMU order is proving more than capable of coming up with clutch hits at opportune times. The second game against YSU was no different. Trailing, 1-0, in the top of the second, junior
Faith Miller capitalized for the Colonials, as her RBI single up the middle brought home a pair and put RMU on top for good, 2-1. Miller added an RBI single in the top of the fifth that gave RMU an eight-run cushion, 9-1, as she finished 2-for-3 with a run and three RBI to help bolster the effort.
HOME RUN DERBY
As a team RMU had hit just one home run in its first 31 games of the 2023 season, which came in the fifth inning of the fourth game of the season for the Colonials, a two-run shot from Grover in a 7-6 triumph @ Gardner Webb (2/11). Exactly two months later, in the span of two innings in game two Tuesday, Grover added two more dingers to her season tally. Her three-run shot to center in the fourth gave the Colonials an 8-1 lead, and she helped seal the deal in the sixth, going yard to left to give RMU a 10-3 advantage. Grover finished 2-for-2 with three runs and four RBI in the night cap, reaching base all four times.
UP NEXT
RMU and Youngstown State complete its three-game series Wednesday, April 12, at 3:00 p.m. at the Covelli Sports Complex.
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