CLERMONT, Fla. – A historic offensive display in the opener and a back-and-forth thriller in the nightcap made for an excitement-filled Tuesday doubleheader for the Ursinus College softball team. Senior Zoe Heinke and freshman Sammi Donato each broke school records over the course of a 12-4 rout against Gordon before the Bears fell victim to the last of several momentum swings in a 7-5 defeat to Emmanuel.
The Bears' explosion against Gordon rewrote the record books. Heinke finished 4-for-4 and set a new program record with seven RBI, while Donato scored five runs to etch her name into Ursinus lore. Heinke's four hits marked a career high, and each resulted in an RBI as she finished just one shy of tying the Centennial Conference record, accomplished most recently in 2013. Donato also landed one short of the conference mark, which has stood since 2000; she was 3-for-4 with an RBI out of the leadoff spot.
Ursinus (3-3) finished with 16 hits, its highest total in a single game since pounding out 17 in a 15-2 rout of Delaware Valley in 2013.
Heinke – who walked in her other at-bat and scored twice – and Donato were only two of many stars for Ursinus on a beautiful morning in the Sunshine State. Freshman Gabrielle Manto finished 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI, and junior Casey Derella went 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI.
The teams traded first-inning runs, with the Scots getting theirs courtesy of a leadoff triple and a sacrifice fly. Ursinus answered in the bottom of the frame, as Donato singled, stole second (the first steal of her career), and scored on a throwing error.
Some two-out magic delivered the Bears their first lead. Donato walked, and Manto's base hit kept the inning alive for Heinke, who came through with a two-run single to center to put Ursinus in front, 3-1, in the second.
The Scots surged ahead with a three-run fourth, but the Bears repaid the favor in the bottom half, when Donato reached on a one-out error. Manto followed with a single, and Heinke brought both home with a double to left, granting Ursinus the upper hand. Derella doubled in the next at-bat, stretching the lead to 6-4.
Heinke produced yet another two-RBI hit in the fifth, a single that scored Donato and Quinn. Her third single of the game plated Donato with the Bears' 12th run and proved a walk-off as Ursinus reached the eight-run limit needed to end the affair in the sixth.
Sophomore Kaitlyn Willis (2-1) was effective on the hill for the Bears, surrendering four runs (three earned) on eight hits with six strikeouts and no walks.
After freshman Kayla Quinn navigated a bases-loaded jam with only one run allowed in the first inning of Game Two, the Bears used back-to-back, two-out triples by Derella and freshman Callie Crouse to grab the lead.
Back and forth the teams went, with Emmanuel regaining the upper hand with a two-run third only to give it right back on an error in the bottom of the inning. Ever resilient, the Bears responded to another Saints lead with two runs in the fifth courtesy of run-scoring singles from Crouse and fellow rookie Sarah Snider Leonhauser, whose two-out base hit to right swung the pendulum back in Ursinus' favor, 5-4.
The Saints wound up on the top end of the seesaw on the strength of a three-run seventh, with Katie Madden's one-out single bringing in two runs and serving as the game-winning blow.
Crouse finished 2-for-3 with her first triple and drove in a pair of runs for the Bears, and Snider Leonhauser recorded the first hit and RBI of her career.
Quinn (0-1) worked into the seventh in her first career start, giving up seven runs (six earned) on nine hits; she walked eight and whiffed four.
The Bears tangle with Wesleyan (Conn.) and Sage on Wednesday.