DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle softball team split a doubleheader with visiting Madonna on Friday, winning a pitcher's duel in game one, 2-1, before dropping a slugfest in game two, 14-8. The Eagles now stand at 4-8 on the year, while the Crusaders are now 1-1.
Game 1 - ERAU 2, MU 1
Game one was a low-scoring affair, with neither team getting more than five hits. The Crusaders jumped on the board first, using a double steal of second and home to take a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
The Eagles answered back quickly as Kailah Rain delivered a bases-loaded single with two outs to drive home Haleigh Lewis with the game-tying run.
The game remained tied at 1-1 until the bottom of the fifth. Rain scorched a one-out triple to right-center and was knocked in on the very next pitch when Anna Battison roped a double to the left-center field gap, giving ERAU a 2-1 advantage.
Madonna threatened to tie it up in the top of the sixth, putting runners on second and third with no outs. After Emma Cook fouled out, Eagle Head Coach Kelsi Dunne elected to intentionally walk Breanna Keethler to load the bases with one out. The strategy worked perfectly as Nicky Salloum hit into a 5-3 double play to end the inning.
Robi Zimmerman clinched the victory with a quick seventh inning, finishing her third complete game of the year.
Rain was 2-for-2 with a triple, run scored and RBI, while Battison was 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI for the Eagles. Zimmerman (2-4) allowed one run on five hits and two walks with five strikeouts to earn the win.
Kayla Rebain was 2-for-3 with a stolen base and a run scored for the Crusaders. Bree Crampton (0-1) took the complete game loss, allowing two runs on four hits and two walks with nine strikeouts.
Game 2 - MU 14, ERAU 8
The second game was a polar opposite of the first, featuring a combined 22 runs on 25 hits. MU wasted no time getting the bats going, jumping out to a 10-0 lead after an inning-and-a-half.
The Eagles got on the board in the second inning on a leadoff home run from Talia Barraco, the first home run for ERAU this season.
After Cook doubled home two more Crusader runs in the top of the third, the Blue and Gold rallied to put up five runs in the bottom half. Raquelli Bianco and Zimmerman each produced two-run doubles and Taylor Cowan had an RBI double in the inning to trim the deficit to 12-6.
Zimmerman launched a solo homer in the fifth to make it a 12-7 game, and Bianco came through with an RBI double in the sixth to cut it to 12-8.
Madonna tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the seventh to account for the 14-8 final.
Seven of the nine starters for ERAU got hits in the game, led by Zimmerman, who was 2-for-3 with a double, home run, two runs scored and three RBIs. Bianco was 2-for-3 with a double, stolen base and three RBIs and Cowan was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Rain went 1-for-4 with a stolen base and two runs scored and Battison finished 2-for-4 with a stolen base and a run scored.
Bianco (2-4) took the loss, allowing 10 runs (seven earned) on eight hits in 1.2 innings of work. Cowan tossed the final 5.1 innings and gave up four runs on seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts.
Cook was 3-for-4 with a double, three runs scored and four RBIs, while Rebain went 2-for-3 with two home runs and five RBIs. Mikey Kish finished 3-for-3 with three doubles, two runs and two RBIs and Karleigh Creighton was 2-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI.
Erin Combs (1-0) got the win, allowing seven runs (six earned) on eight hits with three strikeouts in five innings of work. Crampton finished the game, giving up one run on two hits with a walk and three strikeouts in two innings.
The Eagles return to the field next week to host NCAA II Lynn on Tuesday, March 3 at 4 p.m. at the Daytona State College Softball Complex.
