KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The Ursinus College softball team's second day of competition on its spring trip to Florida went exactly like the first – a one-run loss and a run-rule rout.
The Bears held a lead in the seventh inning of the opener against Fredonia, but a pair of untimely errors allowed the Blue Devils to score twice and walk off with a 7-6 nail-biter. Ursinus (2-2) rebounded with a 9-1 victory over Geneva in six innings.
Sophomores Morgan Comfort and Heather Lazer joined seniors Gabrielle Manto and Kayla Quinn with a multi-hit game in the opener for the Bears, while junior Jennifer Hammons and freshman Kayla McTamney combined to shut down Geneva in the nightcap.
Game 1: Fredonia 7, Ursinus 6
The Bears went ahead 2-0 quickly, as an RBI double by senior Faith Carson and an RBI triple off the bat of Comfort brought home a pair of two-out runs.
Ursinus' bats went silent for the next four innings, and the Blue Devils (2-4) took advantage with a three-run first. Fredonia added another in in the third to go up 4-2 as pitcher Sam Seegar settled into a rhythm.
The Bears disrupted Seegar's flow in the sixth, when sophomore Gabby Ilyes, who had replaced Comfort on the mound in the fourth, led off with a single to center. After a pop-up, Quinn singled to left and sophomore Amanda Ladzinski drew a walk to pack the bases. An infield single by Manto made it a 4-3 game, and Ursinus went ahead as freshman Mackenzie Brennan's fielder's choice grounder plus a throwing error allowed two runners to score. Another miscue gifted the Bears a two-out run and a 6-4 lead heading to the bottom half.
Ilyes got into a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the sixth but escaped with only a sacrifice fly to preserve a one-run lead, but the Blue Devils averted a big threat by the Bears in the seventh and came back with two in the bottom to win it. Ursinus, which had not committed an error in its first three games, made two in a single play to allow the tying run to cross home, and Marisa Sultana walked it off with a game-winning, two-out RBI single.
Comfort allowed four runs on four hits in three innings, while Ilyes surrendered three runs (only one earned) over the final 3.2 frames.
Game 2: Ursinus 9, Geneva 1 (6)
The Golden Tornadoes were actually first on the board with a first-inning run, but it was all Ursinus from that point. Hammons helped her own caused with a two-out RBI single in the second, and Ladzinski came up clutch with a two-run single down the right-field line with two outs in the third.
Consecutive Geneva errors resulted in an unearned run in the fifth, and Manto made it 5-1 with a sacrifice fly. The Bears put it away with four more two-out markers in the sixth, starting with Ladzinski's second two-run single and ending with Quinn's two-run triple.
Ladzinski finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a career-high four RBI to lead the outburst, with Quinn driving in a pair on her fifth career triple. Senior Sammi Donato joined Ladzinski with a two-hit effort, going 2-for-3 and scoring a run. Lazer and sophomore Megan Hasulak both scored twice.
Hammons worked the first four innings for her third career win, permitting just two hits and one run. She walked four and struck out four.
McTamney gave up just one hit and had a strikeout over the final two frames.