CLERMONT, Fla.-- The Trine softball team swept a pair of games Monday afternoon to remain perfect on the young season.
The sixth-ranked Thunder defeated Aurora 7-2 in game one. Trine followed that up with a run-rule 8-0 victory over Misericordia in five innings. The Thunder have opened 4-0 with their performance thus far in the Dot Richardson Spring Games.
Trine 7, Aurora 2
A big inning and a superb outing from Justine Robles (Long Beach, Calif./Lakewood) paced the Thunder to the victory in the opening game of the day.
After the two teams traded zeroes on the scoreboard through the first two frames, the Trine bats broke out for four runs in the third. Rachel Harris (Uniontown, Ohio/Hoover) led off with her first homer of the the season. The homer moved the senior into fourth on Trine's all-time list in career homers, with 24 round-trippers to her credit.
RBI-singles by Amy Newell (Three Rivers, Mich./Three Rivers) and Emily McCarty (Mattawan, Mich./Mattawan) combined with an unearned run to make the score 4-0. McCarty's hit gave the junior her first RBI as a member of the Thunder.
Trine tacked on two more insurance runs in the sixth on a two-run single by Kaitlyn Clark (Mount Juliet, Tenn./Mount Vernon), before Kaylee Fox (Vermilion, Ohio/Edison) launched her first-career homer over the center field fence to cap the scoring in the seventh.
Logan Cahill homered and Vanessa Wegner added an RBI-single in the seventh for Aurora.
Robles improved to 2-0 with her first complete game victory of the season. The junior allowed two earned runs on four hits, walked one and struck out eight.
Trine 8, Misericordia 0
Leah Hall (Indianapolis, Ind/Franklin Central) drove in three runs, while Bree Fuller (Hubbardston, Mich./Fulton) tossed a one-hitter to earn the victory.
Trine scored in all four of its at-bats. Fox and Kendra Marshall (Leesburg, Ind./Warsaw) knocked in runs in a two-run first. Carly Searles (Levering, Mich./Petoskey) tripled home another run in the second to inch closer to the NCAA Division III record in triples. Searles is four triples from tying the D-III career mark.
Hall doubled home three runs in the third. The senior is off to a torrid start, with multiple hits in three of the first four games. Fox added an RBI-single in the fourth.
Fuller allowed three baserunners, walking two and striking out five to improve to 2-0 on the season. With the shutout, the senior tied Cheryl Rolison for the second-most shutouts in team history with 12.
Trine continues play in the Dot Richardson Spring Games tomorrow. The Thunder face Roanoke at 1 p.m. followed by Ferrum at 3 p.m.