Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

MIAMI SHORES, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University softball team fell in both ends of Wednesday's road doubleheader to Barry as the second leg of their three-city, nine-game road trip wrapped up from Buccaneer Field.
 
The Sharks (14-20, 2-13 SSC) scored first in the opener without benefit of a hit, but then would be held empty by the Bucs (27-9, 11-4 SSC) in that column in an 8-1 loss. Then, in game two, the home team scored three times with two outs in the third, all unearned, for all of their scoring in a 3-1 victory.
 
GAME ONE
The first two Shark batters of the night reached, with Maegan Lee (Sr., Miami) walking for the first of four times, followed by Dakota Villella (So., Hollywood, Fla.) bunting and getting on via an error. Rebecca Thornton (So., Lodi, Calif.) pushed them both over with a bunt of her own, and two batters later, with the bases loaded, the Barry catcher sailed a return throw to the pitcher into rightfield to allow Lee to score.
 
It stayed 1-0 in favor of the Sharks until Barry sent all nine batters to the plate in the fourth, scoring five runs on seven hits. The Bucs got one more in the following inning, and added two more with two outs in the sixth for what would be the final tally.
 
NSU, besides those two baserunners in the first on a walk and an error, drew six more bases-on-balls off Bucs starter Taylor Sabol, including the aforementioned four to Lee in all of her plate appearances.
 
GAME TWO
Barry got all three of their runs after an NSU error in the third scored one and extended the inning. The Bucs' Julie Brito then knocked in two with a double to end their scoring for the night.
 
Katrina Ammons (Sr., Jacksonville, Fla.) had two inning-opening hits for the Sharks, including their first of the game in the second. In that frame, a walk to Shelby Cogan (Sr., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and a sacrifice bunt by Te Reo Powhiri Matautia (Jr., Auckland, New Zealand) put NSU runners on second and third, but Barry's Haley Wiseman got the next two hitters out to end the threat.
 
Similarly, the Sharks had two in scoring position in the fifth, with pinch-hitter Taylor Rotz (So., Pittsburgh) leading off with a sharp single to center, and one out later, Lee earning yet another walk. After another sacrifice, this one by Villella, pushed her two teammates ahead, Rotz attempted to score on a wild pitch, but was tagged out at home after a fortuitous carom (for Barry) off the brick backstop.
 
Shark starting pitcher Thornton helped herself with a nifty snag of a hard-hit grounder to end the Barry fifth with the bases loaded, and then scored the only NSU run in the next half-inning. She led off with a single and came all the way around on Matautia's long flyball to left that dropped in for a double. But that would be as close as the Sharks would get, as they were retired in order to end the game.
 
In addition to all three runs against her being unearned, Thornton gave up just six hits in the loss and struck out six Buccaneers.

The third and final portion of this road trip for NSU begins Friday in Lakeland, Fla., against Florida Southern. The first game of three will be that night at 7 p.m., with a doubleheader scheduled for Saturday afternoon, starting at 1.