DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Playing in its final games at the Daytona State College Softball Complex, the Embry-Riddle softball team picked up two wins against visiting Northwood. The Eagles won a pitchers' duel in game one, scoring the game's only run in the bottom of the seventh for a walk-off victory, and followed up with a dominant 7-2 win in game two.
The wins improve ERAU's record to 21-19 and 6-8 in conference, while the Seahawks fall to 14-22-1 and 0-12 in league play.
Game 1 - ERAU 1, NU 0
Game one was a prototypical pitchers' duel, with baserunners hard to come by for both teams. Taylor Cowan's second-inning triple was the only hit of the game until the fourth inning, when the Seahawks got a pair of base hits. Neither side was able to push runs across in those innings as both pitchers escaped without any damage.
Victoria Reed drew a leadoff walk in the fifth and eventually made it to third base with two outs, but ERAU couldn't get her home. The next half-inning Northwood had runners and second and third with one out, but Raquelli Bianco was able to get two harmless ground balls to third to get out of the inning unscathed.
The scoreless draw continued until the home half of the seventh, when Robi Zimmerman led off with a base hit and moved to second on a wild pitch. Reed poked a one-out single to right to move Zimmerman to third and Rae Heuer delivered a walk-off RBI single to score Zimmerman with the winning run.
Bianco (12-7) tossed her seventh shutout of the season, giving up just four hits and striking out seven without issuing a walk. Heuer finished 1-for-3 with an RBI and Zimmerman was 1-for-3 with a run scored.
Anne Diercks (5-9) took the complete game loss, giving up one run on four hits with two walks and a pair of strikeouts. Cassidy Miller went 2-for-3 while Ryleigh Williams and Allie Catapano each went 1-for-3.
Game 2 - ERAU 7, NU 2
The Eagles got the bats going much quicker in the second game, needing just three batters to score the first run. Kailah Rain led off with a single to left and promptly stole second. After Bianco walked, both runners moved up 60 feet on a passed ball. Taylor Cowan knocked in Rain with a sacrifice fly to open the scoring and Haleigh Lewis and Zimmerman followed that with back-to-back RBI doubles to make it a 3-0 game. Three batters later, Heuer drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 4-0 and Rain collected a two-out RBI single to extend ERAU's lead to 5-0.
The Seahawks came back with single runs in the second and fifth innings but never threatened to get any closer. Lewis opened the bottom of the fifth with a triple and scored on a Zimmerman sac fly to put ERAU ahead 6-2.
The Blue and Gold tacked on an insurance run in the sixth inning when Bianco led off with a solo home run down the right field line, accounting for the 7-2 final score.
Zimmerman (7-12) got the complete game victory, giving up two runs on just two hits, walking five and striking out two. She was also 1-for-3 with a double and two RBIs at the plate, while Rain was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, run scored and RBI. Bianco finished 1-for-3 with a home run and two runs scored and Reed was 2-for-3.
Nicole Granitto (5-8) took the loss, allowing five runs on five hits and three walks in 0.2 innings pitched. Catapano and Alex Hartley each went 1-for-3 with NU's only hits of the game.
The Eagles will finish out the 2015 regular season on Wednesday, April 22 with a doubleheader at Webber International beginning at 2 p.m.
