Softball Falls In Its First Two Games In Arizona

TUCSON, Ariz.—The Fontbonne University softball team dropped its first two games over in Arizona on Friday. The Griffins fell 6-4 against Manhattanville and 15-6 against Pacific.

Manhattanville 6 Fontbonne 4

In game one, the Griffins (record), compiled four runs on four hits. Emily Cardwell led with a hit and two RBI, while Maddie Cooksey, Alleigh Kruse and Melanie Russo added the other hits. Inside the circle, Brianna Durant was dealt the loss after going 3.0 innings, allowing two runs on five hits.

Diamond Thomas, meanwhile, got the no-decision as she went 3.0 innings, allowing four runs (three earned), on five hits and sat down two.

The Valiants (1-0), ended the outing with 10 hits and they were paced by its leadoff hitter in Brooke Franson, who went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Dolores Diemicke did some damage in the No. 6 spot in the order as she went 2-for-2 with two runs scored and two RBI.

On the rubber, reliever Alycia Feeney got the win after going 3.1 innings, allowing one run (zero earned) on one hit.

With one on, Maddy Strickland walked. Pinch-runner Emily McNiff, who ran for Emelia Modglin, stole third. After Strickland stole second, Cardwell singled through the right side, plating the duo, to give Fontbonne a 2-0 lead.

The team wasn't done there. After a pitching change, Kayla Winkler was hit-by-pitch and a wild pitch went on to move the runners up a base. Then, Isabel Hotop reached base on an error by Manhattanville's outfielder, which scored Cardwell and Winkler to make it 4-0.

That lead, though was short-lived for the Griffins. In the bottom of the inning, Desiree Buboi and Evonne Torres both hit back-to-back homers. Aarin Hartenstein was hit-by-pitch and she scored on Diemicke's 2-run blast to tie the game up at 4-4.

In the sixth, Diemicke struck again with a triple to right and she scored on a wild pitch to give the Valiants a 5-4 lead. They tacked on another run on an RBI double from Brooke Franson to give them the 6-4 win.

Pacific 15 Fontbonne 6

In game two, the Griffins finished with six hits and they were led by Courtney Kedroski going 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Maddie Cooksey also went 1-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI at the leadoff spot.

On the rubber, Maddy Strickland took the tough defeat as she went 1.2 innings, allowing 10 runs (two earned) and struck out one.

The Boxers, meanwhile, finished with 15 runs on 13 hits. The 1-4 hitters provided a lot of the pop as Nicole Martinez, Jill Uyeda, Katelyn Macaitis-Smith and Hailey Miller combined to go 7-for-15 with six runs scored and five RBI. Pitching wise, reliever Alyssa Burns got the win as she went 3.0 innings and struck out five.

After Pacific took a 1-0 lead in the first, the Griffins answered in the home half. Kedroski got things going with a double. After an Alleigh Kruse walk, two batters later, Strickland reached base on an error and Kruse came around to score, tying the game at 1-1.

Then, Strickland attempted to steal second but got caught in a rundown. That allowed Emelia Modglin to touch home before Strickland got tagged out to give them a 2-1 lead.

The momentum they gained carried over into the second. Melanie Russo led off with a double and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from Cardwell.

After a walk and a strikeout, Cooksey doubled, plating Winkler and Russo to extend the lead out to 4-1. Kedroski traded places with Cooksey with a double of her own and now Fontbonne led 5-1. Kedroski went on to score on an error and that put the Griffins ahead 6-1.

In the ensuing half inning, though the Boxers scored three runs on three hits to narrow down the Griffins lead to 5-4. In the fourth, Pacific put away the game for good. They tallied seven runs on four hits, helped out by two Griffin errors and now grabbed an 11-5 lead. Pacific tacked on two more in the sixth and in the seventh to go on for the nine-run victory.

Fontbonne looks to rebound tomorrow morning against St. Catherine at 10 a.m., followed by a 1:30 p.m., outing against Thomas More.

Fans make sure to stay updated on fontbonnegriffins.com throughout the year for full updates and recaps on the softball team.