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Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Athletics

Group_050623_TSM0471
Tavana Mercado
2
Winner Barry BARRY-S 24-29, 10-19 SSC
1
Embry-Riddle (Fla.) ERAUSB 27-22, 14-15 SSC
Winner
Barry BARRY-S
24-29, 10-19 SSC
2
Final
1
Embry-Riddle (Fla.) ERAUSB
27-22, 14-15 SSC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Barry BARRY-S 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 7 0
Embry-Riddle (Fla.) ERAUSB 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 5 2

W: C. Lee (8-6) L: Morse, Shelby (8-12) S: M. Barnhart (3)

3
Barry BARRY-S 24-30, 10-20 SSC
5
Winner Embry-Riddle (Fla.) ERAUSB 28-22, 15-15 SSC
Barry BARRY-S
24-30, 10-20 SSC
3
Final
5
Embry-Riddle (Fla.) ERAUSB
28-22, 15-15 SSC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Barry BARRY-S 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 3 4 1
Embry-Riddle (Fla.) ERAUSB 1 0 1 1 2 0 X 5 8 4

W: Kinahan, Mallory (15-10) L: M. Barnhart (10-16)

Game Recap: Softball | | Kyrin Mayfield | @k_mayfield97

Softball Ends 2023 Season With Series Win Over Buccaneers

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Embry-Riddle softball team closed out its 2023 campaign with a doubleheader split with Barry on Saturday to secure the series. The Eagles were edged 1-2 in game one but bounced back in game two to win 5-3. A 28-22 overall record marked the eighth straight season the Blue and Gold finished with a winning record. Additionally, the season-ending win put Embry-Riddle at 15-15 in Sunshine State Conference play. The Eagles have ended with a conference record at or above .500 in every year aside from the program's two transition seasons into NCAA II.

Embry-Riddle improved to 12-9 all-time against the Buccaneers (24-30, 10-20 SSC).


GAME 1 | Barry - 2, Embry-Riddle - 1

Barry wasted no time to start the scoring, plating a run in the top of the first. A bunt single and hit batter put two on, and an RBI single gave the Buccaneers the early lead. 

The Eagles' deficit doubled three frames later in the top of the fourth when a two-out double turned into a run due to a pair of throwing errors on the same play. 

However, Embry-Riddle immediately responded in the bottom half of the inning. Lauren Latoria singled with one out to right. Mallory Kinahan entered as a pinch runner and promptly stole second. Katriana Bain then used her first triple of the season to bring the Eagle in to score and make it a 2-1 contest.

ERAU did manage to get a runner to third with two outs in the next inning, but a groundout ended the Eagles' last scoring opportunity. 

Only three members of the Blue and Gold recorded hits, led by 2-for-3 performances from Bain and Latoria. 

Shelby Morse (8-12) was given the loss despite only being charged one earned run over 4.1 innings. She allowed six hits and struck out three. Ava Domenici pitched 2.2 frames and held Barry to no runs on one hit and one walk. 


GAME 2 | Barry - 3, Embry-Riddle - 5

This time it was Embry-Riddle who got the jump on Barry early on. Mia Macchia led off the bottom of the first with a single to second and swiped a base soon after. She was in prime position to capitalize on a single from Emma Wood that put ERAU up 1-0. 

In the circle, Kinahan was dealing as she held Barry hitless over the first three innings. After she recorded back-to-back strikeouts to end the third, the Eagles went right back to work on offense. Mahaliyah Sandridge used her 10th-career triple to get into scoring position with one out. She was able to jog home as Karina Ortiz-Munoz doubled to center field to increase the lead to 2-0. 

The Buccaneers tallied their first hit in the top of the fourth with a one-out triple to right. That runner later beat out a throw home from the shortstop on a ground ball to give Barry its first run of the game. However, the Eagles regained the momentum on the next play when Ashton Aycock, Sandridge, and Ortiz-Munoz turned a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play. 

Embry-Riddle's lead continued to grow in the fifth. Singles from Sandridge and Wood started the frame. The two were able to score on an error by the shortstop, giving ERAU a four-run cushion.

Another double play occurred in the sixth as Macchia snagged a fly ball in left and then launched a throw all the way to first to double up on the runner who failed to retreat back to the base in time. 

Seniors Gigi Auricchio and Sandridge exited the field with thunderous applause in the seventh. Auricchio entered the game at first and received cheers from the crowd when she was relieved after the first pitch. After the second out was recorded, Sandridge also received her moment in the spotlight when she was subbed out. The situation became tense, though, as Barry used a single and a pair of errors to score a run and put two runners in scoring position. The next Buccaneer batter sent a grounder to Raissa Bianco at third, who was able to tag a runner out to end the game but not before a third run touched home. 

Sandridge and Wood led the charge with 2-for-3 outings. Sandridge scored twice while Wood grabbed a run and a RBI.

Mallory Kinahan (15-10) went the distance to secure the win, giving up three runs, one earned, on four hits and no walks. She also tied her single-game season high in strikeouts with five. 

During the contest, the Eagles set a single-season program record in stolen bases. The team finished with 87 on the year, besting the previous mark by three.

Sandridge ends her impressive two-year tenure with Embry-Riddle with the second-most triples (10), third-most assists (169), third-highest slugging percentage (.553), fourth-most doubles (30), sixth-most runs (76), sixth-most total bases (172), tied sixth-most home runs (6), seventh-highest average (.336), ninth-highest on-base percentage (.417) and 10th-most hits (104). This year, Sandridge set the single-season program record for doubles (19) and games started (50), starting all 96 games at shortstop in her two years. She also tied for the second-most triples (5) and accumulated the second-most assists (102), third-most total bases (88), fourth-most runs (39), fifth-most hits (56), and tied for the eighth-most stolen bases (16). 

Kinahan also set impressive single-season marks in 2023, picking up the fifth-most starts (27), fifth-most innings pitched (170.0), tied for the fifth-most wins (15), sixth-lowest ERA (2.06) and tied for the ninth-most shutouts (3) by any Eagle pitcher in a single year.

Wood's ERA of 2.26 was the ninth-lowest in a season in program history. 

Bain ended the year with a .592 slugging percentage, sixth-best all-time. 

Also of note, Ortiz-Munoz finished with 321 putouts, second-most all time and just 15 shy of the record.
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