Softball Drops Two at Rollins on Monday Night
Links: Box Score (G1) | Box Score (G2)
WINTER PARK, Fla. – Facing a red-hot Rollins team that was fresh off of a series win over the 24th-ranked team in the nation, the Merrimack College softball team dropped a pair of games at the Tars home field on Monday night on the eve of their final day in Florida.
The Basics
Score (G1 – 6 innings): Rollins 8, Merrimack 0
Score (G2 – 6 innings): Rollins 10, Merrimack 1
Records: Merrimack (5-12) | Rollins (22-6-1)
Location: Martin Luther King Jr. Park | Winter Park, Florida
How It Happened (G1)
Both games of the day would play out in very similar fashion, as the Warriors would battle and keep themselves right in both games up until the bottom of the sixth inning, when Eckerd would pile on the runs and enact the mercy rule, ending both games an inning short.
The Warriors trailed by just three runs prior to the sixth inning in game one, as Rollins would manage one run in each of the first three innings with a bases-loaded walk, a double steal and a solo homerun, respectively. Senior captain Alexis Perry (Westford, Vt.) would get the nod in the first game, going three innings and allowing three earned while racking up five strikeouts.
The fourth and fifth innings would go by scoreless with neither team finding success at the plate as Merrimack and Rollins combined for just two hits in the two innings. The Warriors would enter the sixth inning trailing by just three and still within striking distance, but two quick hits followed by a squeeze bunt for Rollins would suddenly see that deficit extended to five. Another single and a walked batsman would put two runners back on base, followed by a game-ending three-run homerun, as the mercy rule of an eight-run lead after five innings came into effect.
How It Happened (G2)
Merrimack would come out in game two ready, getting their first two batters on base and advancing them to second and third. But the prime scoring chance would end abruptly on an inning-closing double play. Rollins would be unable to record a hit in the first two innings as the game entered the third scoreless.
A team well-respected for their power, Rollins got on the board first in game two in the bottom of the third inning with a two-run homerun. They stretched that lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth after executing a double steal and a throwing error from the Warriors would let the runner on third come in, with Merrimack heading to the fifth trailing by three.
Despite the final score, game two was a closer battle than game one prior to the sixth inning as the Warriors would respond promptly in the top of the fifth inning with a run to cut the deficit down to just two runs. After a leadoff single from junior Mariah Tenney (Winchendon, Mass.) followed by Tenney beating out an attempted force-out at second, freshmen Caitlin McBride (Danvers, Mass.) stepped in and drove a single up the middle to plate Tenney, putting the score at 3-1. After a scoreless bottom of the inning for Rollins, Merrimack entered the sixth trailing by two.
The Warriors would go scoreless in the top of the sixth and much like game one of the day, the Tars would go off in the bottom of the inning. Rollins would put together a five-hit, seven-run inning, which, like game one, ended on a walk-off homerun, this one being a grand slam that extended the score to 10-1 and put the game-ending mercy rule into play.
Up Next
The Warriors finish up their trip to Florida with a doubleheader at Eckerd in St. Petersburg on Tuesday evening, with first pitch of the first game scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
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