CLERMONT, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle softball team eliminated fellow first-year program Southeastern on Saturday morning before being knocked out of the tournament by St. Thomas in the afternoon. The Eagles end the season at 16-25 while Southeastern finishes at 27-20 and St. Thomas improves to 21-21.
 
Game 1 – ERAU 12, SEU 4
 
The day started with Eagles and Fire resuming a suspended game from Friday night. The Blue and Gold held a 3-0 lead in the third inning when play resumed Saturday morning.
 
In Saturday's play, Southeastern plated a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth to tie things up at 3-3.
 
The score remained tied until the seventh inning, when the Eagles batted around with two outs. After the first two batters were retired, Chanley Burge launched a home run over the right-center field fence, giving ERAU a 4-3 lead. Two batters later, Dee Espinosa doubled home Alex Wood. Three batters later Robi Zimmerman drew a bases-loaded walk, bringing the score to 6-3. Jessica Osteen was then hit by a pitch and Haleigh Lewis followed with a two-run double, extending the lead to 9-3. Samantha Smith drove in Osteen with the 10th run, followed by Lewis scoring on an error and Samantha Smith scoring on a wild pitch, capping the nine-run inning.
 
The Fire could only muster one run in the bottom of the inning, giving Embry-Riddle a 12-4 win that sent the Fire home.
 
Zimmerman (5-12) threw all seven innings over the course of the two-day game, allowing four runs (three earned) on nine hits, walking two and striking out four. She also was 2-for-4 with a walk, run scored and RBI.
 
Samantha Smith went 3-for-5 with a run scored and two RBIs, while Dee Espinosa was 2-for-4 with a walk, double, stolen base, two runs scored and an RBI.
 
Sam Rich (15-7) took the loss, going 6.2 innings, allowing 11 runs (10 earned) on 12 hits, walking eight, hitting two and striking out three. She was also 1-for-4 with a double and a run scored out of the leadoff spot.
 
DeVyn Barker went 2-for-4 with a run scored, two stolen bases and an RBI. Paige Duncan was 2-for-3 with an RBI.
 
Game 2 - STU 10, ERAU 3
 
Embry-Riddle came back to play St. Thomas in another elimination game at 4 p.m. The Bobcats jumped out to an early lead and never looked back.
 
STU pounded out five hits in the second inning to chase Alexis Estrada from the circle, scoring three runs in the process.
 
The Eagles got a leadoff home run in the third inning off the bat of Burge and a sacrifice fly from Espinosa cut the deficit to 3-2, but that would be the closest the Blue and Gold would get.
 
St. Thomas answered ERAU's two-run third inning with a five-run outburst of their own, batting around in the inning to take an 8-2 lead after three complete innings. STU added another run in the fourth to build the lead to 9-2.
 
Embry-Riddle scored its third run in the sixth inning on a Bobcat error, only to have St. Thomas respond with another run in the bottom half of the inning. The Eagles couldn't mount any sort of comeback in the seventh, falling by a score of 10-3.
 
Estrada (11-10) took the loss, giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits with a walk and two strikeouts in 1.2 innings of work. Zimmerman, who was selected to the All-Tournament Team, pitched the final 4.1 innings, allowing seven runs (four earned) on nine hits with two walks and no strikeouts.
 
Burge, who was also selected to the All-Tournament Team, went 1-for-2 with a walk and a solo home run while Alex Wood was 2-for-3 with a stolen base and a run scored.
 
Cristina Sacramento (8-7) picked up the win, going 5.2 innings. Sacramento allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits and three walks with eight strikeouts while also going 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs at the plate.
 
Sasha Horton was 3-for-4 with a stolen base and two runs scored at the top of the lineup for STU and Natalie Sacramento finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
 
The Embry-Riddle softball team concludes its inaugural season with a 16-25 overall record and a third-place finish at The Sun Conference Tournament.