Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU softball team opened a three-game series against Northern Kentucky Friday, posting a 2-0 victory at the North Athletic Complex to improve to 13-15 (.464) overall during the 2023 season, including 3-2 (.600) in the Horizon League.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Scoreless heading into the bottom of the fifth, sophomore
Alaina Koutsogiani ripped a double to left center off NKU starter Alicia Flores with one out, just the second hit of the contest for the Colonials. Flores bounced back to pick up the second out of the inning by striking out junior
Kinsey Ventura before junior
Faith Miller worked the count full before drawing a free pass. Redshirt sophomore
Meadow Sacadura came to plate for RMU and hit a chopper to short that Tatum Biddle couldn't handle, allowing Koutsogiani to score for the first run of the game.
AFLAC
The Colonials added another run in the sixth inning, taking advantage of another miscue by the Norse. Junior
Julia Ehrman singled up the middle to open the frame and stole second, putting a runner in scoring position. Flores steadied, getting two quick outs before junior
Jess Matheny popped up to short. Biddle, however, dropped the ball, with Ehrman scoring easily to give RMU a 2-0 cushion.
QUOTABLE
"The two things that can never go away is quality at bats and good, hard baserunning," RMU head coach
Jexx Varner said. "We scored our runs in the fifth and the sixth innings with one ball that never got out of the infield and the other that was in shallow left field. We were in position to take advantage of those because both (Koutsogiani) and Julia both scored from second base. That's smart baserunning and being ready for anything the game throws your way."
CONTROL: THE REMIXES
Fifth-year
Dana Vatakis posted arguably the best start of her RMU career Friday against the Norse. She gave up just one hit, as Megan Lenhart singled with two outs in the fourth. Brielle DiMemmo followed by drawing a walk, but Vatakis got Northern Kentucky leadoff hitter Ella LeMonier to bounce out to third to end the inning. In improving to 3-0 this season against #HLSB foes, Vatakis has recorded a complete game in each outing, has yet to give up an earned run while yielding 10 hits and four walks in 21 frames. She struck out six Norse Friday and has set down 15 on strikes in three league starts.
QUOTABLE
"(Dana) was excellent," RMU head coach
Jexx Varner said. "She did a really great job of putting pressure on the hitters early by getting ahead in the count. They worked some counts back in their favor, but Dana was able to get out of those by just throwing her next pitch. Her performance speaks for itself."
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Ehrman owned two of RMU's three hits Friday, while sophomore
Anna Resnik drew a walk to lead off the game for the Colonials to stretch her streak for consecutive games safely reaching base to 15. For Vatakis, she picked up her 10th career complete game against a member of the Horizon League since 2021.
UP NEXT
RMU will conclude its six-game homestand Saturday, April 8, with a doubleheader against the Norse. The first game is slated to start at 1:00 p.m.
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