NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The Trine University softball team finished off the Cross Bay Bash with another split against excellence competition. They won their first game of the day against Pfeiffer University before dropping a heartbreaker to Christopher Newport University.
The Thunder started the day against the Falcons and the bats were wide away for the morning first pitch. In their first chance at the plate, Trine put five runs on the board to take a commanding 5-0 lead. The first three batters for the team reached base on singles loading the bases. Junior Scarlett Elliott brought in the first runs with a double to left center scoring two.
Senior Amanda Prather followed up by reaching on a fielder's choice and bringing in another. Finally, sophomore Emma Beyer put two more on the board with a double down the right field line.
Neither team scored over the next three innings. A big part of that defensive effort for Trine was senior Anna Koeppl who started the game in the circle for the team and pitched four shutout innings. She ended her day after the fourth having allowed just two hits and two walks while striking out three.
Pfeiffer got on the board in the fifth to cut the lead to 5-1 for the Thunder. The team responded in the bottom half of the same inning. After a leadoff strikeout, two batters reached base before moving to second and third on a ground out. Graduate student Cassie Woods brought both home on a double to right field.
After a scoreless top of the sixth, freshman Debbie Hill brought in the first run of the bottom half, putting the game within one of a run-rule victory for Trine. Elliott would score on a walk off wild pitch a few batters later to seal the game at 9-1.
The second game of the day featured a rematch of the 2022 NCAA Division III Softball Championship finals and a meeting between the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) national poll's first and second ranked teams. The defending champions and first ranked Captains took the first lead of the game. They scored three unanswered runs over the first two innings.
Beyer led off the third for the second-ranked Thunder with a walk, moving to second on a sacrifice bunt. The team needn't have bothered, as sophomore Ainsley Phillips followed up with a homer to left field making the score 3-2. Christopher Newport responded in the bottom of the inning with a homer of their own to make the score 4-2.
Unphased, Trine responded in the top of the fourth. After a leadoff out, the team put runners on first and second. Prather took full advantage of the opportunity recording her second home run of the season and giving the team their first lead of the game at 5-4.
Hill took over in circle for the middle portion of the contest and settled in for the fourth, fifth and sixth innings with three scoreless innings. The Captains' pitching did the same holding the Thunder scoreless through the final three innings of the contest.
In the bottom of the seventh, a single and a walk put a runner on first and second for the home team and forced a final pitching change for the Thunder. It ended up being a bad gamble, with Christopher Newport recording a homer on the next at-bat walking off the game at 7-5.
Trine finishes the day 10-2 overall following the split. They will next travel to Elizabethtown, Ky. for more games against nationally recognized teams. They open the two-day event with Linfield University, who is currently ranked 12th in the nation. That game is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 18.