CLERMONT, Fla. - Catholic softball continued its streak of doubleheader splits on Monday evening, dropping its first game to Ohio Northern before shutting out Mount Saint Mary at The Spring Games.
Game 1 - Catholic 2, Ohio Northern 7
Sophia Fike tallied three of Catholic's six hits, but Ohio Northern got the better of the Cardinals on Monday evening, winning 7-2.
Mia Szap picked up Catholic's lone RBI in the contest while
Alex Garza and
Elise Faxon also recorded hits in the contest.
Ohio Northern pushed two runs across in the bottom of the second inning against Catholic starter
Aubrynn Arcement. After putting two runners on with one out, Taylor Hilty rapped a two-run single to open the scoring.
Catholic tied the contest at 2-2 in the fourth inning with a pair of bunts and an error getting them on the board initially. Fike led off the inning with a bunt single and advanced to second on a sacrifice by
Amanda Gomez.
Katie Scolese grounded to third, but Ohio Northern's Sydney Motylinski couldn't handle it, allowing the run to score. Scolese advanced to second on the error and scored on an RBI single off the bat of Szap.
Arcement was strong through four innings, but Ohio Northern got the better of her in the fifth, scoring three runs to push them ahead 5-2. Callie Rosser gave the Polar Bears a 3-2 lead with an RBI single before Kaylie Griffin drove in two to make it 5-2.
Ohio Northern would add two more runs in the sixth off of
Amy Gastright before closing out a 7-2 win.
Game 2 - Catholic 5, Mount Saint Mary 0
Alex Pley dazzled once again in the circle while Fike and Scolese had big days at the plate to lead Catholic to a 5-0 victory in game two on Monday. Pley improved to 3-0 on the season, tossing 5.0 scoreless innings before giving way to
Olivia Stinchcomb who tossed 2.0 scoreless frames to finish off the shutout.
Fike had three more hits, including a triple, to give her six hits on the day while Scolese had a multi-hit game and drove in two runs for Catholic.
Catholic struck first in the bottom of the third inning, scoring two runs to go ahead 2-0. Gomez drew a walk and moved to third on a one-out Fike single. Szap singled, scoring Gomez while Fike scored on an RBI ground out from Scolese.
Both pitchers continued to duel back-and-forth before Catholic added three more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Fike singled and stole second before advancing to third on a Szap ground out. Scolese singled up the middle to score Fike and gave way to pinch runner
Olivia Brousseau. With Brousseau on first, Garza lined a triple to center, driving in the Cardinals' fourth run of the game.
Kerri Hatcliffe made it 5-0 Catholic with a single up the middle to score Garza.
Stinchcomb pitched the sixth and seventh innings, scattering three base runners, but allowing zero runs. Fike hit a two-out triple in the sixth and Szap drew a walk.
Pley has been outstanding in her freshman season, pitching to a 0.58 ERA in 24.0 innings in the circle. She has now earned the win in three straight starts after a no-decision against Ursinus in the season-opening series.
Fike is hitting a team-best .500 in eight games with 15 hits while Scolese and Szap are tied for the team-lead with six RBI. Hatcliffe's RBI was her first of the season and third of her career.
Catholic plays two more against Trinity (CT) and Haverford tomorrow before a scheduled off day on Wednesday.
