TUCSON, ARIZ. – The Trine University softball team came away with two run-rule wins earlier today. They defeated the College of Staten Island by the score of 9-0 and Fontbonne University by 10-2, both games ending in the sixth inning.
The Thunder started their day against the Dolphins and started bringing in runs in the first inning. Senior Kaylee Fox (Vermilion, Ohio / Edison) started the scoring with a single up the middle which brought in two runners. Freshman Kennedy Baugh (Walton, Ky. / Notre Dame Academy) added an RBI of her own when she was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, but Trine left the rest of the runners on bases and left the inning with a 3-0 lead.
In the second, sophomore Nicole Ferraro (North Royalton, Ohio / Holy Name) brought in two more runs with a single, giving the Thunder the 5-0 lead. Both teams would go scoreless in the next three innings, but in the bottom of the sixth Trine would plate four runs to end the game 9-0.
Fox recorded a single and a double in the game and accounted for a team-high three RBIs. Senior Erica Robles (Long Beach, Calif. / Lakewood) continues be a fixture on the base path going three for four in the contest.
Junior Kate Saupe (Farwell, Mich. / Farwell) pitched a great game allowing just one hit and two walks in the shut out. It is her third win of the season.
In the second game of the day, the Thunder gave up two first inning runs to the Griffins to head into their first at bat down 2-0. But they wasted no time erasing the deficit as Mercede Daugherty (Watervilet, Mich. / Watervilet) came away with a two-run homer, her first of the season.
In the second inning Trine would take the lead. First, Robles came up with a two RBI double to left field. Second, Daugherty would add her second homerun of the season, plating three runs and giving the Thunder a 7-2 lead.
Trine added two more in the fourth off a Michaela Hartline (Niles, Mich. / Brandywine) double. Freshman Bailey Vande Giessen (Kalamazoo, Mich. / Portage) finished off the game in the bottom of the sixth with a walk-off double.
Daugherty led the way for the Thunder with the first two dingers of her career and a team-high five RBIs. Sophomore Hannah Kampmann (St. Paul, Minn. / Cretin Derham Hall) pitched the whole game for Trine earning her third win of the season.
With the victories the Thunder improve to 10-2 on the season. They will finish off their Arizona trip tomorrow, March 9, with two games. At 11 a.m. EST they take on SUNY Oneonta and then at 1 p.m. EST they take on Cornell (Iowa) College.