GAME ONE BOX | GAME TWO BOX
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Nova Southeastern softball team (15-11) split a doubleheader Wednesday against the Mercyhurst Lakers (7-7), taking the first game by a score of 2-0 but dropping the second, 10-5.
GAME ONE
Sara DeMuth (Sr., Plant City, Fla.) threw her fourth shutout of the season and the Sharks topped visiting Mercyhurst 2-0.
Lorena Spaulding (Fr., Pembroke Pines, Fla.) and
Laura Saladrigas (Jr., Hollywood, Fla.) each tallied two hits, while
Raven Sepulveda (Fr., Tampa, Fla.) recorded both RBI for NSU.
The Sharks had a chance to get on the board early, loading the bases in the second inning with no outs. Annie Truelove, the Mercyhurst pitcher, was able to get out of the inning though, getting two of the next three to strikeout, while the third popped out. Both offenses struggled to get any momentum going, as the scoreboard continued to show no score through the first five innings. In the bottom of the sixth inning though, the Sharks changed that with a pair of runs.
Katie Kelton (Sr., Pembroke Pines, Fla.) led off with a single and then two batters later Saladrigas hit a single of her own to centerfield. After each moved up one base on a NSU groundout, Sepulveda stepped into the batter’s box. With two outs, the freshman slapped a single that plated the two base runners for the only runs of the game. Sepulveda now has seven RBI in her first season as a Shark.
DeMuth finished the game with eight strikeouts to bring her season total up to 142.
GAME TWO
Leading the Sharks in game two was Saladrigas, who went 2-for-3 at the dish with a homerun and five total RBI.
Mercyhurst got things going right off the bat in the top of the first with two outfield singles that drove in the first run of the game.
The Sharks responded after three innings in the bottom of the fourth when Saladrigas smashed a two RBI stand-up triple deep to centerfield, which drove home teammates
Gina Bondarenko (So., Pembroke Pines, Fla.), who singled to center field and Kelton, who rounded from second. The Sharks ended the inning with two runs on three hits to take the lead, 2-1.
The Lakers responded quickly and often in the following at bat, putting up seven runs on three hits to take a commanding lead over the Sharks, 8-2. Mercyhurst continued their attack in the sixth and seventh inning adding one more run a piece to extend their lead, 10-2.
Saladrigas started a late rally attempt in the bottom of the seventh knocking a three-run homer over the centerfield wall to cut the lead in half but it was not enough turn the table on the visiting Lakers.
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