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Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Athletics

Linn_041224_DSC9856
Kayla Byrnes
3
Nova Southeastern NSU 27-11, 12-7 SSC
6
Winner Embry-Riddle (Fla.) ERAUSB 25-16, 8-11 SSC
Nova Southeastern NSU
27-11, 12-7 SSC
3
Final
6
Embry-Riddle (Fla.) ERAUSB
25-16, 8-11 SSC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Nova Southeastern NSU 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 3 6 0
Embry-Riddle (Fla.) ERAUSB 2 0 1 0 2 1 X 6 12 3

W: Morse, Shelby (11-7) L: A. Drogemull (15-7) S: Wood, Emma (3)

Game Recap: Softball | | Kyrin Mayfield | @k_mayfield97

Softball Slugs its Way to 6-3 Upset Win Over No. 25 Nova Southeastern

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Raissa Bianco, Delaney Morgan, and Karina Ortiz-Munoz combined to go 8-for-9 with four runs and three RBIs to help the Embry-Riddle softball team upset No. 25 Nova Southeastern 6-3 in the series opener on Friday night at Radiology Associates Field. The Eagles (25-16, 8-11 Sunshine State Conference) tied their season-high hit total with 12 on the night, including four doubles and a home run. 

Even though the Sharks (27-11, 12-7 SSC) entered with the top offense in the conference, leading the league in runs per game (5.4) and batting average (.319), the Eagles held them to just three runs on six hits, all of which were singles, to end the visitor's six-game win streak. 

The win improved Embry-Riddle's all-time record against Nova Southeastern to 12-7 with a 9-1 mark at home. Additionally, it was ERAU's third win over a ranked opponent this season and the 24th in the history of the program. 

The Sharks got the scoring started with a run from a pair of singles in the top of the first. However, it took Bianco just three pitches to respond when she lifted a ball over the left field fence to tie the game. Morgan followed with a bunt single and proceeded to steal second. That set up Ortiz-Munoz for a ground-rule RBI double to take a 2-1 lead.

NSU got another run back in the third due to a fielding error, but the home team answered in the bottom of the inning with the same Morgan-Ortiz-Munoz connection as Morgan singled and Ortiz-Munoz produced an RBI single to regain the lead at 3-2. 

In the fourth, the first two Sharks reached base, but Kerry O'Sullivan saved the day when the sophomore caught a line drive and threw to first for a 6-3 double play. Unfortunately, another fielding error caused the tying run to score. 

Three consecutive doubles helped the Eagles jump back in front in the bottom of the fifth as Bianco, Morgan, and Shelby Morse produced extra base hits to tack on a fourth run. Katriana Bain then stepped in to bring pinch runner Parker Ray in for a 5-3 Eagle lead. 

NSU threatened in the sixth with the bases loaded, but Ashton Aycock, in her first start of 2024, came up with a monumental stop at third base to record a force out to end the scare. 

Aycock then picked up her first hit of the season to open the bottom of the sixth. Leah Oberkehr entered to run and made it all the way home when Morse sent a sacrifice fly to right to make it 6-3. 

The leadoff batter reached base in the top of the seventh, but reliever Emma Wood started a 1-6-3 game-ending double play to seal the upset.

Bianco increased her hitting streak to five games with a 3-for-4 performance with one run and an RBI. The second baseman's seven total bases from a single, double, and a home run were tied for the tenth most in a single game by an Eagle. 

Morgan went a perfect 3-for-3 from the dish with a career-best three runs scored while Ortiz-Munoz produced two hits in as many at-bats with a couple of RBIs. Morse also plated a pair of Eagles.

Morgan also swiped a pair of bases to give the junior 20 on the season to break a tie for the sixth-most in a single season. Meanwhile, Bianco cracked the career top-10 stolen base list with her 20th as an Eagle.

In the field, Ortiz-Munoz led the team with eight putouts for 257 on the year, the fourth-most by an Eagle in a season. O'Sullivan's team-best six assists gave her 80 for the season, tied for the seventh-most in a year in the history of the program. 

Morse (W, 11-7) doused the SSC's hottest offense, pitching 5.2 innings and allowing just three runs, only one of which was earned, on five hits with two strikeouts. The win allowed the Napa, California native to tie for ninth on the program's all-time single-season wins list. 

Wood (S, 3) earned her third career save, which is tied for the second most all-time, with 1.1 shutout innings of relief.

The series concludes with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m.
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